By Charwayne Walker
If you were to be asked who is the youngest bowler to capture a five wicket haul on his regional first class debut (a) Inshan Ali (b) Robert Haynes or (c) what would be your answer.
If your answer is Martial Francis of St Lucia, then take a bow. You are absolutely correct.
Off-spinner Francis was just 16-years, five months old when he captured 5 for 73 from 19 overs against Jamaica on his home ground Victoria Park, Castries, St. Lucia in March 1970.
Another teenager, this one more well known, Jamaican Robert Christopher Haynes, was 17-years, three months old when he mesmerized Guyana at Sabina Park, March 1982.
Haynes, on his regional first class debut, took 5 for 87 from 29 overs in Guyana’s first innings and 6 for 119 in their second innings, giving the debutant match figures 11 for 206, an altogether outstanding feat.
Trinidad’s Inshan Ali was seventeen 17-years, five months, when he captured 5 for 32 from 11.4 overs against the Windward Islands in February 1967 at the Queen’s Park Oval.
The other debutants with this distinction at the regional first-class level from 1964 to 1986 are Guyanese Indal Persaud, who made his regional first-class debut against Jamaica at GCC Bourda in March 1964.
Persaud captured 5 for 31 from 27 overs in Jamaica’s second innings.
Another Jamaican, Neville Hawkins, took 6 for 65 from 33 overs on his regional first-class debut against Trinidad & Tobago in March 1964 at the Queen’s Park Oval while Adolphus Freeland had a sensational regional first-class debut against Jamaica for the Combined Islands at the Antigua Recreation Ground in January of 1966.
Freeland took 6 for 49 from 22.2 overs.
Fast bowler Wayne Daniel still boasts about his regional first-class debut against Trinidad & Tobago at the Kensington Oval in January 1976.
Daniel took 5 for 35 from 20 overs while Daniel’s compatriot, Milton Small, also had a dynamic regional first-class debut, capturing 5 for 57 against Trinidad & Tobago at the Kensington Oval in January of 1984.
And last, but by no means least, Winston Benjamin also started his regional first-class career on a high when he had Jamaica on the run with a hostile debut spell of 5 for 47 from 16.4 overs at Sabina Park in January of 1986.
