AT the age of 31, Guyana and West Indies pacer Ronsford Beaton’s regional career seems to be over.

The fast bowler, who was born on the volcano-hit island of Montserrat, was reported for a ‘suspect’ action during
Guyana’s first round regional game against T&T in St. Kitts, where he took 2-39
from 12 overs.

This is the fourth occasion and second time in less than 12 months that the Essequibo fast bowler has been reported for an illegal action since being last reported against Jamaica last year at Providence Stadium when he took 2-22 and 3-85.

The genuinely quick former 2012 West Indies U-19 World Cup pacer played the first of his 38 First-Class matches against England Lions at Providence in March 2011, and has 84 wickets at this level.

Beaton, who played two ODIs for the West Indies in December 2017, has been replaced by 19-year-old West Indies U-19 fast bowler, Berbician Isaiah Thorne, who took eight wickets in the last U-19 World Cup in South Africa with a best of 4-46 against Scotland.

Thorne has 12 wickets from two First-Class games, after making his debut for the IRE Emerging vs Academy at Coolidge in November 2023. His other game at this level was played in December 2023 between the same two teams. He has also played in two regional Super50 games for CCC in Trinidad last year October. He is expected to play in Guyana’s second match against the Leewards in St. Kitts from tomorrow. In 2018, Thorne played for the first time for Berbice U-15s against President’s X1. The next year he played for Berbice U-15 and U-17 teams. But because of the ‘Covid’, there was no inter-county cricket played for the next two years. In January 2019, Isaiah was picked in a West Indies, 14-member West Indies U-16 squad for a Tour of England to take part in a series of matches sponsored by the Barmy Army, which provided him with vital experience bowling in English
conditions.

Last year Thorne was one of two Guyanese on the West Indies U-19 tour of England last month for a six-match Youth ODI series.

The quickest teenaged bowler in the Caribbean was not always a cricketer, and even when he got into cricket, he was not a pacer but bowled leg-spin.

In fact, Isaiah, who went to live with his mom for four years in Barbados, informed that his first love was Track & Field, and he was good enough to win gold medals in National School Championships in the U-12 400m and the U-14 High Jump. An eight-year-old Isaiah would go to the Young Warriors Cricket Club, which was not too far from where he lived in Cumberland,
East Canje. So, it was not too surprising that he would gravitate to cricket in his teenage years.

Isaiah was born on September 23, 2004, and has five siblings, including two sisters.

The youngster attended the Cumberland Canje Secondary School, where he ‘mostly’ took part in track and field.

“I used to watch a lot of games on TV, and from going to the cricket ground, I developed a love for the game. Mr. Anil Beharry, Amir Rahaman, and my mom kept encouraging me to keep playing,” recalled Isaiah, whose hobbies are listening to music, watching football, participating in basketball and track and field.

“I started at Young Warriors Cricket Club, and then moved to Tucber Park while I am currently at Rose Hall Canje Cricket Club. As I got older, I saw that I could get a career in cricket,” continued Isaiah, who is hoping to join John Trim, Brandon Bess, and Shamar Joseph as the Berbician fast bowlers to play Test Cricket.