Seales excited for TKR debut

WEST Indies Under-19 player Jayden Seales, who has signed to play with the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) for the 2020 Hero Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament, is keenly anticipating his debut season as he has joined a squad featuring some of the world’s most decorated T20 players.

The TT player was one of the stand-out players for the West Indies Under-19 team at the 2020 International Cricket Council Under-19 50-Over World Cup in South Africa earlier this year.

Seales ended the tournament with ten wickets in six matches. The Upper Six Presentation College, Chaguanas student grabbed two four-wicket hauls in the tournament.

Seales, along with wicket-keeper batsman Amir Jangoo, are the two emerging players on the TKR squad.

Seales will line up alongside some of the world’s best T20 players with the likes of Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine in the team, along with other talented players Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo.

Seales, 18, would have grown up watching players he will now be team-mates with. When the CPL began in 2013, Seales was only 11 years old.

In an interview with Newsday, Seales said, “First of all, I will like to thank the Almighty for allowing me to get the opportunity. I am very pleased to be among this team (and) to be rubbing shoulders with such great players and big names in the game.”

Seales said he plans to gain knowledge from the more experienced players, “I know it will be a very good experience, learning from them, seeing the way they carry about themselves on and off the field as cricketers and professionals, just being able to adhere to everything that they do and learn as much as possible from them.”

The top T20 bowlers in the world use a variety of deliveries, utilising the slower ball and the yorker to outfox batsmen. Seales’s team-mate Dwayne is one of the best in the world at the slower delivery and the teenager says he wants to learn how to make an impact in the format.

“Definitely I am willing to learn as well. As soon as this lockdown is over I will take all the chances I have to go and train to develop my slower balls…to be ready for the tournament.”

Seales has been staying active during the covid19 pandemic by keeping in contact with Gregory Seale of Movement Mechanics, a group that helps athletes with their rehabilitation, recovery and performance needs. Seales is also being guided by Jason Pilgrim of Sport Medic TT and doing personal work in his backyard in Couva.

Looking back at the Under-19 50-Over World Cup, the fast bowler said he learnt from playing at that level.

“I learned that you have more time than you think. I know in T20 cricket it is a shorter version, but I still believe if you take your time and you go through the processes correctly and you stick to the basics it will help a lot.”

Seales knows his primary role on TKR will be his bowling with quality batsmen such as Simmons, Pollard and the Bravo brothers already confirmed to line up with TKR. Colin Munro, of New Zealand, who TKR will want to retain this year, has been the backbone of the team’s top order for years.

On his role with the bat Seales said, “It is just about staying in as long as possible with whoever is the senior batsmen, getting them on strike (and) just playing my role and don’t try anything extraordinary and be any superhero.”