Alick Athanaze made a memorable debut for West Indies in the final ODI against UAE at Sharjah. After bowling out UAE for 184, West Indies chased down the score in the 36th over with the debutant scoring 65 off 45 balls.
After the experienced Johnson Charles was dismissed early, Alick Atanze took his time and played some delightful shots. His 65 was down to the application he showed with the bat.
After the game, the debutant spoke about his interaction with West Indian batting legend Brian Lara. He said that the conversation influenced him to perform with the bat.
“For me, it has been really good. Basically, what we spoke about was judging lengths and trying to get ahead of the bowler. It worked really nicely, and I got myself into some good positions and it was really good to bat out there tonight” Athanaze said after the game.
He further spoke about feeling nervous when he walked out to bat but getting the initial runs eased him up.
“It was a really good experience [on debut]. [I] haven’t batted much in the night, so it was a first for me actually. But normally that’s how I play in the powerplay – I always look to get the team off to a good start” said Alick as he played his part in West Indies winning the series 3-0.
Athanze played in the U-19 World Cup in 2018 and was the highest run-getter with 418 runs in six matches. India’s Shubman Gill was the second-highest run-getter with 372 runs in six matches.
The youngster is not a part of the ICC World Cup qualifiers for West Indies but is expected to play the home series against India. He further spoke about team management, especially coach Darren Sammy.
“The team did really, really well. One thing the captain stresses about is always improving and as you saw right throughout the series, we improved – not just on the batting but fielding as well and bowling. As a young player, it’s always good to be in a winning team and it gives you the confidence to go out and express yourself” Athanaze concluded saying.