By Frederick Halley

ABOUT a month ago, he told Chronicle Sport that he was cautiously optimistic of being selected to the West Indies Under-19 World Cup team since performing creditably on the tour of England.

According to the soft-spoken Matthew Nandu, he wasn’t taking anything for granted that his place was assured for the ICC World Cup which will be hosted by Cricket West Indies (CWI) in January-February next year.

Well, those fears of non-selection have been allayed as Nandu will be donning the maroon colours when the prestigious tournament bowls off with the opening game at the Guyana National Stadium on January 14.

Promising to let his performance do the talking, Nandu did exactly that with some scintillating performances with both bat and ball when the prospective selectees gathered for the High-Performance camp in Antigua in November after vowing to “complete the job” which he had started even prior to the tour of England.

The 18-year-old Nandu had described the six-match tour of England as quite a satisfying one for him personally, although the West Indies Rising Stars were beaten 4-2 by their English counterparts in the One-day series.
Pointing out that he would have loved to get a hundred after ending the series with consecutive half-centuries, Nandu said the rib injury sustained in the second One-day was also a minor setback which saw him miss the third game.

Nandu, who opted to represent West Indies instead of Canada, said playing in England was a great experience with the ball moving on the pitches and in the air. He, however, said he was able to make the necessary adjustments after the first game but still felt he should have been a bit more aggressive.

Cricket apart, Nandu is currently studying Psychology at Wilfred Laurier University, Ontario, Canada and according to his dad, Arjune, who is a former Guyana and Canadian top-class leg-spinner, the CWI coaches Floyd Reifer and Rohan Nurse have been very accommodating to Matthew whenever he has any assignments and examinations which are done online, even if he’s involved in any camps or training sessions.

Commenting on his selection to the West Indies team, Matthew said it was a culmination of hard work and dedication since he had put in hours of training in the gym as well as outdoors and it was surely a dream come true to be included in the squad.

Matthew had loads of praise for his parents, Arjune and Jackie, and his elder brother Marcus who is in his fourth year at Western University, Ontario and who plays club cricket in the province and was called to the Canadian Under-19 trials. “They all played a huge role in my cricket upbringing,” he quipped.

Questioned on how he’s staying fit for the upcoming World Cup since there are no outdoor cricket at the moment in Canada, due to the weather conditions, Matthew said he has been doing mostly indoor training and cardio work since returning from the High-Performance camp in Antigua.

According to his father Arjune, who is understandably elated over his son’s selection, “We are extremely happy for him. He has worked very hard and all the sacrifices he has made over the years have paid off. I am hoping he enjoys a good tournament.”

Like most North American kids, Matthew was first attracted to volleyball, basketball, baseball and track and field, captaining both his secondary school volleyball and basketball teams. He, however, became interested in cricket after witnessing his dad and brother play club cricket. This prompted him to join Kaieteur Cricket Club and that was the beginning of what has been a fruitful career to date. He is also a prominent member of Tranzac Cricket Club.

Matthew said he was encouraged by his uncle Chris Thakoorpersad to play in Guyana and started his back-and-forth between Canada and Guyana in 2017. The following year he was a member of the Demerara Under-17 team and in 2019 also represented the county and Guyana at the Under-17 level. He also played at the First Division level for Everest and for East Bank in the Franchise League.

Matthew looked certain to be selected to the Guyana Under-19 team in the CWI 2020 tournament but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic ensured that tournament was cancelled.

While Matthew is aiming to help West Indies cart off the prestigious tournament, like they last did under Guyanese Shimron Hetmyer, in 2016, he has also been earmarked to represent Guyana Amazon Jaguars in next year’s Regional four-day tournament by no less a person than chairman of the Guyana senior selection committee, former Guyana and West Indies batter Ramnaresh Sarwan.

According to Sarwan, Nandu and former Guyana and West Indies Under-19 batter Kevlon Anderson are earmarked for great things next year and are among a number of rookie prospects on the selectors’ radar for the 2022-23 season.