… promises to work harder to get better

JOSHUA Da Silva said he is humbled by the praise heaped upon him by West Indies great, Sir Vivian Richards.
Da Silva, 22, is one of the shining lights for what was otherwise a disastrous tour of New Zealand earlier this month. He made a composed 57 in the second innings on his Test debut after being called up to replace injured wicketkeeper-batsman Shane Dowrich.
His performance already has tongues wagging across the Caribbean about the Trinidadian taking over from his Barbadian colleague behind the stumps for the West Indies.

However, while Sir Vivian, who has scored 8 540 runs from 121 Test matches, did not opine on whether Da Silva was ready to be West Indies number-one wicketkeeper-batsman, he definitely liked what he saw. He expressed his opinions to the Antigua Observer in a recent interview.
“I think some of these guys should have a look at him and see how simple he keeps his game because even for the period I saw him at the crease he was compact, not flashy, and had the bat coming down with all kinds of flashiness,” Sir Vivian said.
“He looks very respectable to me like he knows his game.

“You see him when he is batting and when he is looking to defend, how straight his bat is. He looks organised to me and you’re not seeing that in all the other guys.”
After reading about the Master Blaster’s remarks, Da Silva told Sportsmax.TV he appreciated the observations from the all-time great.
“I am honoured to see what Sir Viv has said and complimenting me about my batting,” he said.
“I am just playing a simple basic game. I am not trying to be too flashy, score when I can score and defend when I can defend; so it’s a great honour to get some compliments from a great like Sir Viv and I will take that and keep working at my game and getting better.” (Sportsmax)