Georgetown Cricket Club’s Devon Lord, like many who enjoy the gentleman’s game locally, dreams of one day earning his maiden Guyana Jaguars cap.
At 25, the left-arm orthodox spinner, leads his side at the First Division level of the Georgetown Cricket Association-organized tournaments and currently plies his trade on the Canadian circuit, playing for Red Star CC and Strikers CC.
“Playing for Guyana would mean a lot to me and for my family as well knowing that they are behind me from the start of it all,” Lord told Stabroek Sport.
The Lodge resident, who has represented the nation regionally at the junior level, explained that he is doing as much as possible to merit a spot in the Cricket Guy Inc’s Academy programme, which, in his view, is one step closer towards making his dream a reality.
“I would love to get a chance in the academy, it is a good structure because it moulds players in all areas of the game and it’s a possible chance once your performance is good, you can play for Guyana and elevate to the West Indies in the future,” he said.
Lord posited that since his days of youth cricket, he has developed vastly and is now ready to take up the challenge of representing the country.
A constant feature at the net sessions to teams, once International cricket is playing in Guyana, Lord has captured the attention of a lot of seasoned coaches who would often offer him advice on how to better his game.
Lord has used that advice and converted them into performances for his teams. Last season he scored three half-centuries with a best of 76 and also returned a best bowling figure of four for 21.
“Playing in Canada has been nice for me. I did not have many opportunities with the bat but the ones that I did get I made them count. With the ball, the team expects me to do good at all times, even on the bad days but I love the challenge,” Lord opined while noting, “Taking over the captaincy has been good for me personally, I’m getting better as we go along thanks to the guys who are always helping out and it improves my game, taking more responsibility in the team.”
Although the world is grappling with the effects of the Novel Coronavirus, commonly known as Covid-19, one of which is the closure of sporting facilities, Lord is still putting in the work to meet his goals including using the locally improvised socks and ball remedy.
“I’m getting my fitness in with some running up and down the stairs, pushups, burpees and other home exercises since we can’t go out…if I don’t get it in the morning, I go in the afternoon because the gym is closed, I have to do some homework outs.
I’m also doing some shadow bowling in the mirror and getting some batting with the ball and socks,” Lord said.
He noted that he is maintaining social distancing but is working closely with former national youth player and club mate, Raj Nanan to continue improving.
Nevertheless, the all-rounder admitted that it is a big blow to not play cricket for such a long period since “it gives you a chance to implement what you would have been practicing off-field.”
