Rutherford establishing his oasis 

Sherfane Rutherford of Bengal Tigers hits a boundary during the third-place playoff against Maratha Arabians. (Photo by M. Sajjad)
Sherfane Rutherford of Bengal Tigers hits a boundary during the third-place playoff against Maratha Arabians. (Photo by M. Sajjad)

Twenty-year-old Guyanese basher Sherfane Rutherford is continuing to enhance his growing reputation as one of the region’s emerging big hitting sensations following his eye-catching exploits in the just concluded T10 league in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

Rutherford, the lone Guyanese to have featured in the league, ended with 195 runs from eight outings with a strike rate of over 200. 

He scored 46 from 21 balls in the third-place match to lead Bengal Tigers past Dwayne Bravo’s Maratha Arabians. 

His tally was seventh on the most runs chart, coming behind some of the current prominent names on the international circuit, including Shane Watson, Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Andre Fletcher and Nicolas Pooran. 

Rutherford shot to prominence in 2018 after he scored a swaggering century for West Indies ‘B’ in the inaugural Global T20 Canadian league. 

He further impressed in this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a few more lusty performances which should surely land him an Indian Premier League (IPL) deal. 

“First of all, I want to thank God for this opportunity, and yeah, the T10 league was outstanding; I enjoyed playing with the international players,” Rutherford told Stabroek Sport as he explained that the experience contributed to his development through interactions with the senior pros. 

He said the outing – his first – of playing competitively in subcontinent conditions has reinforced the possibility of making his debut for the West Indies during their tour of Bangladesh. 

“It’s been a learning experience for me before I head to Bangladesh and… I am very excited to make (my) debut for the West Indies; it will be a dream come through.”