SPORTS, TRADE, INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE & CULTURE

 Powell ready to show he’s the “comeback kid”

Bridgetown, Barbados – Cricket lovers coming to the Queen’s Park Oval on Saturday are sure to get a treat when they see the West Indies take on India in the Digicel Pearls T20 International.

Fans have also been promised “double the fun” when they see the exciting talents of the Sagicor High Performance Centre against Trinidad and Tobago in what will be an exciting day of high-quality cricket.

One player hoping to make his mark and have a lasting impression is Keiran Powell, the tall left-hander, who will open the batting for Sagicor HPC. The 21-year-old from Nevis has a reputation for being a “smasher”, but for him Saturday’s match is not just about boundaries and maximums.

He is making a comeback to the game following a serious hand injury earlier this year in the WICB Regional 4 Day Tournament, which limited his participation in the competition to just two matches.

“I was fielding in the slips in the match against the Combined Campuses and Colleges and I moved to take a catch. I tried to get my hands under the ball and it struck me at an awkward position. That put me out (of the game) for quite a while. It was painful,” Powell admitted.

“I’m still working my way back gradually and feeling my way back into the game. The first few weeks here at the Sagicor HPC have helped me to get back into the groove and the match in Trinidad will be a big opportunity.”

Powell further explained: “I got my first First Class hundred in the match before I got the injury and I was looking for a big season… but these things do happen in cricket and in life and you just have to keep working to make it right. That’s the reason why I’m here at the Sagicor HPC, to improve my game and build from scratch again.”

So far he has played 23 First Class matches and has made 1,362 runs at an average of just under 39 per innings. His highest score is a highly impressive 131 made for Leeward Islands against England Lions at Warner Park, St Kitts earlier this year.

Powell said working with Carl Hooper, the former Guyana and West Indies captain who recently signed on as the new Batting Coach at the Sagicor HPC, already has a positive impact on his game.

“We have been speaking a lot about things in my game and how to improve my overall technique and approach to my innings. We have been doing a lot of work on my footwork and I started to get a hang of it. I’m feeling better at the crease and I will be looking to put things in place when we play against Trinidad and Tobago,” Powell said.

“Everyone’s goal is to play for the West Indies at the highest level, but at this stage in my development I’m just trying to get runs under my belt and play those long, match-winning innings and try to impress the selectors.”

First ball in the Digicel Pearls T20 International between West Indies and India is 9 am (8 am Jamaica Time). First ball in the T20 match Trinidad and Tobago vs Sagicor HPC is 2 pm (1 pm Jamaica Time).