By Marlon Munroe
Right arm leg spinner Devendra Bishoo is well known for his menacing variations, deceptive turn and generous flight with the ball.
With these talents at his disposal he has captured 71 first class wickets from 18 matches at an
average of 28.70 and 10 wickets from four matches in regional competition when he made his debut in the recently concluded tournament.
The 24-year-old from New Amsterdam also received the Man-of-the-Series prize in the tournament, which Guyana won by defeating Barbados.
Bishoo’s effort, along with the heroics of fellow Berbician Jonathan Foo, has earned Guyana the distinction of being the second team to represent the West Indies at the Champions League T20 tournament in September in South Africa.
Last year’s runner-up Trinidad & Tobago was the first team to achieve this feat.
Bishoo told Stabroek Sport yesterday that he “did what I normally do throughout the tournament”. But his main artillery in the final was his “focus”, he revealed, after Guyana had lost its ninth wicket on 109, chasing 135 for victory.
Guyana were staring defeat in its face at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, before eventual Man-of-the-Match Foo struck four fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 42 from 17 balls. This blitz diminished Barbados’ bowler Ashley Nurse’s achievement of five wickets for 35 runs in his allotted four overs.
Enter Bishoo, who has shown time again for Guyana, that he is no rabbit with the bat. With Javon Scantlebury-Searles bowling the penultimate ball of the match, Guyana needing two runs for its berth in South Africa, Bishoo struck the winning runs with a drive through extra cover.
The ball ricocheted from the hand of diving fielder Larry Babb; Sulieman Benn gave chase from cover region and somehow managed to misfield, allowing Bishoo and Foo to come back for the second run to seal the victory.
Bishoo related yesterday, “The team had confidence in me and so all I had to do was keep my eye on the ball and play straight. The skipper (Ramnaresh Sarwan) was telling me to do the basic and not to feel pressured and just focus.”
He conceded though that he was under a lot of pressure to deliver for the team. Several efforts by Stabroek Sport to contact Foo were unsuccessful.
Bishoo said that it felt good to contribute to the success of Guyana and he is looking forward to doing it again if the chance should present itself in South Africa.
Bishoo, who is the other ‘twin’ of the spin duo with Veerasammy Permaul, believes that South Africa is a good opportunity for him and Guyana to showcase what they are capable of on a world stage. He maintained that Guyana has a good team and therefore it should remain focused and work hard to bring more pride to the country. “This is a good opportunity to have the people of Guyana rally around us and then we will be successful,” he indicated.
On a more personal note, Bishoo said that he has been unrelenting in the development of his game. He disclosed that while he wants to perfect his style of bowling, he has been working even harder on his batting, something he says will be of benefit to him and his team.
The time is limited before the commencement of the tournament in South Africa, Bishoo noted, and therefore it is important that the team remains focused since winning the Caribbean Championships is only the first step.
Guyana have some big shoes to fill. More importantly, they will be going into next month’s tournament conscious that the T&T team last year had created some of the biggest upsets in the tournament before stumbling at the final block. With this in mind, Bishoo thinks that the Guyanese should be going into the tournament believing that they can achieve more.
