Super50 champ Julien wants Red Force shot soon

Young TT batsman Leonardo Julien is hoping Red Force look at him again, in the future, following his instrumental role in helping the West Indies Emerging Players cop the Colonial Medical Insurance Super50 Cup, at the Queen’s Park Oval, St Clair, on Sunday night.

Julien smashed an exhilarating 83 opening the batting, rectifying his previous matches where he made one in each of three innings. He wasn’t used as an opener but coach Floyd Reifer decided to push him up despite his failures. Now, the West Indies U-19 player wants territories to look at players like him, who were rejected in the draft only to go on and lift the trophy.

When asked about the importance of teams like the Emerging Players in giving fringe players a chance he said, “It’s very important. Some of us got rejected from our countries and we still came out here and showed our worth and our capability. Hopefully, our countries take this into consideration.” Julien has been impressive on the local scene for Merry Boys in the past and the national youth cricketer has also made waves in domestic tournaments on the UWI Twenty20 (T20) circuit. But he knows making it into the Red Force won’t be easy as Jeremy Solozano and Keagan Simmons have been referenced by coach Mervyn Dillon as the core for the future. Still, Julien remains undeterred after the shock victory, which he thinks was bound to happen once his team reached the semis after USA knocked Guyana out in the group stage. This allowed the Emerging Players to go on to edge Barbados before the 205-run win over the Leewards in the final sealed the title.

“Coach (Reifer) always says it’s the law of attraction. We never thought that we’d reach so far. USA had to beat Guyana for us to come through. And it did happen! It’s just the law of attraction!” he said. As for how he got over his poor form, Julien said working in the nets during the series helped him improve his technique. “I went back in the nets. I realised my head was leaning so I just kept my head straight down the wicket and it helped me. I bounced back,” he said. As for his knock, he said, “I had to assess the wicket. The ball came on nice onto the bat so it was just for me to basically get a big score. After one, one, one, I was really thinking about scoring 111 today! It feels great just going out there and playing my game.”

Julien said it helped he was given his preferred spot to open. “Well, obviously I prefer opening but I can bat anywhere in the order. When I open, I see the game better and I like the ball coming on to the bat,” he added. The diminutive opener will now be focusing on the U-19 tri-series with England and Sri Lanka acting as precursor to the youth World Cup in January. From the Emerging Players team, Julien, fellow opener Kimani Melius (who’ll lead the U-19s), spinner Ashmead Nedd and local boy Jayden Seales will be heading over as Super50 champions.

“It’s just for me to go there with the same performance from today’s game and to back myself. We have plenty of confidence. I think we have a great a team, an all-round team, and we’ll go there and put our best foot forward,” he said.

“The Under-19s face England and Sri Lanka in nine matches in Antigua at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground and then the Coolidge Cricket Ground, starting on Friday. The top two teams face off in the final at Coolidge Cricket Ground on December 21. The U-19s then travel to South Africa after Christmas to finalise their preparations for the World Cup which commences January 17.