PETITE 17-year-old Guyana and West Indies female cricketer Shemaine Altia Campbelle of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club’s (RHTYSC) Metro Female cricket team, is determined to be a permanent member of the West Indies cricket team for the next two decades, playing a major role in the development of the game at the female level.
Playing for the West Indies was a childhood dream come true and said that discipline, hard work, faith in God, practice and the support of her club mates were the key to her success.
Campbelle was born on October 14, 1992 to Roberta Robertson and Milward Campbelle at the Port Mourant Hospital and she attended the McGowan Primary School in the village of Manchester, before moving to the historic Winifred Gaskin Secondary School.
From a young age she developed a love for the game and joined the Mibicuri Cricket Club with her friend Jacqueline Singh who went on to play for Guyana at the Under-19 level.
Campbelle caught the attention of CEO/Secretary of the RHTYSC Hilbert Foster while playing against the Rose Hall Town Pepsi Under-19 Team and in early 2007 was invited by Foster to join the newly formed RHTYSC female cricket team.
Her development since joining the club can be described as outstanding and she has represented the club at the Under-17, U-19, U-23, second and first division levels with great success.
Campbell also represented Berbice and Guyana at the Under-19 and senior level and has recorded three centuries over the last two years while doing so.
She blasted 115 against West Berbice in last year’s Inter-club tournament, followed by 121 and an unbeaten 134 which was scored against Essequibo in the 2009 Inter-county tournament and St Lucia at the Regional level respectively.
Campbell made her International debut for the West Indies in October, 2009 when she played against South Africa and later against England in the West Indies.
She has already played several limited overs and 20/20 matches and was perhaps the only International player to keep wicket, bowl leg-spin or medium pace and bat in a game.
Campbell said she was happy to contribute to the team and was confident that she would be successful in all three areas as she trains very hard on all aspects of her game every day at the Area ‘H’ ground.
She described playing in the World Cup as an experience she would never forget and she has learnt a lot from playing against the best female cricketers in the world.
Campbelle praised the management of the West Indies team for a job well done and stated that the team was one big family whose members were proud to represent the millions of people in the Caribbean.
Special mentioned was made of her coach Sherwin Campbell and to rated player Stefanie Taylor who assisted her with her game.
All her fellow club mates at the RHTYSC also came in for praise from the petite teenager, for encouraging and guiding her along the way.
Female cricketers at the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club over the years have played in Berbice male tournaments and this Campbell felt was one of the reasons why all of them have improved a lot and was the main factor why the RHTYSC Metro Female team were cricket champions of Guyana.
National players with the calibre of West Indies ‘A’ team middle order batsman Assad Fudadin, Royston Crandon, Delbert Hicks and Esaun Crandon who all assisted her with advice and encouragement to follow her career very keenly, were given honourable mention by Campbell.
She heaped tremendous praise on Foster for the role he has played in her career and noted that his leadership of the club encourages all club members to strive for nothing but excellence.
The Windies all-rounder also praised the sponsorship of Metro Office and Computer Supplies and its Managing Director Mr. Taajnauth Jadunauth as they have allowed her and her female team to play as much cricket as possible.
Her next major goal is to represent the West Indies at the Test level and at the end of her career to be considered as the greatest female cricketer to have been produced by Guyana and the Caribbean.
With her love of batting long, she is confident that she can score centuries at the limited overs and Test levels and she is currently preparing herself to represent Guyana at the senior level, where she hopes to dominate the tournament with both bat and ball.
When asked if she would accept the national captaincy if offered, Campbelle stated that she is a team player and would do anything necessary for Guyana.
She would like to encourage her peers to get involved in sports as it teaches about the importance of discipline and keeps you away from social ills.
She also urged young females to stay in school to obtain an education and to be respectful to their parents and everyone they meet.
In 2009, Campbelle was named the runner-up national Junior Sportswoman and also won the Guyana Cricket Board 2009 Junior Female Cricketer Award and the Berbice Cricket Board Junior and Senior Female Cricketer-of-the-Year awards.
She also carried home over $200 000 worth of prizes when she was named the RHTYSC Female Cricketer-of-the-Year in March 2010 and to cap things off, she is looking forward to play and dominate female cricket in the West Indies for the next two decades, in comparison to India’s master batsman Sachin Tendulkar.
With age on her side and her love for the game, coupled with discipline, dedication and hard work, certainly Shemaine Campbelle can certainly achieve her many goals she intends to achieve from the sport of cricket.