By Delvon Mc Ewan
After playing the number one innings at the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) senior Inter-County limited overs competition, Essequibo’s wicketkeeper/ batsman Kevon Boodie is upbeat about his chances of having a successful cricket career.
“It is the best achievement so far in my cricket career and definitely the best feeling in my life,” said Boodie in an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport. He was referring to his 217 (the highest limited overs score at the senior Inter-County level.
It was the first double century in the shorter version of the tournament. Boodie recorded the historic feat against the national U-19 side on Saturday at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC) ground.
After the innings the young man said that he wanted to dedicate the achievement to his father,
who is very much involved in his career but had fallen ill and was admitted to the Leonora Public Hospital the night before he started his historical innings.
Boodie, who represented Guyana at the U-19 level when the tournament was held in Guyana was born on the 28th June 1993 at Leonora Public Hospital, West Coast Demerara. He is the youngest of seven children for his mother Gwendolyn Boodie a retired teacher. His father is a farmer.
The right-handed batsman, who played three years at the junior Inter-County level, commenced his cricket career at the Vergenoegen Cricket Club at age 11. He played a few matches there before moving to Parika Salem Cricket Club where he has remained.
However, it was as a member of the Stewartville Secondary School team during a schools’ U-16 tournament that his talent was spotted by the Essequibo selectors and he was selected to represent the county at the U-19 level. He was approaching 16 years at that time. His cricket progressed and in 2010 at age 17 he was selected to represent Essequibo at the senior level.
During his first outing as a young player against a very experienced Demerara bowling attack, he was restricted to 23 runs in the second innings after making nought in the first. According to Boodie, his debut senior tournament did much for his career, so much so that the following year (his final year at the junior level) he managed two half centuries against Berbice at the National Stadium and was selected to represent the national U-19 team.
After the Regional U-19 tournament, Boodie said he had been getting starts at the senior Inter-County competitions, but never had the opportunity to lift his bat to celebrate reaching three figures until his scintillating innings against the U19s that lasted just 147 balls. Before that innings his previous best was 48 made for the President’s XI against Berbice in 2012.
He opened this year’s senior Inter-County limited overs tournament by scoring 42 against Demerara on a turning Wales’ pitch and ended his campaign as the leading run scorer after the preliminaries, as innings of 217 and nought against Berbice complemented his score against Demerara. However, his total of 259 can afford him the best batsman of the tournament as second placed Trevon Griffith with 142 is still more than a hundred runs behind with one innings to go.
Boodie also played for the DCC and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) while in the city. The part-time, construction worker said he will rejoin DCC after this competition and work towards developing his cricket.
With one week remaining before the start of the senior four day Inter County tournament, Boodie said he will be working hard to improve his physical and wicket keeping aspect of his game ahead of the tournament.
He aims to finish the longer format of the tournament with more than 300 runs to boost his chances of being selected on the national team.
