SSCL Star of the Week – Another Cooper making waves for Naparima College

NEWSDAY continues to highlight the future of cricket in TT. Every Friday, a player in the PowerGen Secondary Schools Cricket League (SSCL) premiership 50-over competition will be profiled as the SSCL Star of the Week.

In round three there were some excellent performances and it was difficult to choose one player. In the end, for his six-wicket haul and innings of 39, Naparima College player Mathew Cooper has been given the nod.

Cooper comes from a cricket family as his older brothers play the sport including Cephas, who was selected on the TT Red Force squad for the 2024 West Indies Four-Day Championships. Years ago Cephas, who also attended Naparima, was featured as the star of the week.

The younger Cooper was pivotal in leading Naparima to a 101-run win over Princes Town West Secondary on Tuesday. Cooper’s 39 steered Naps to a competitive 245 all out in 48.3 overs and then he destroyed the Princes Town batsmen with figures of 6/32 in six overs. Princes Town could only muster 144/9 in 50 overs.

Newsday spoke to Cooper about his performance.

Name: Mathew Cooper

Age: 18

Form: Lower Six

Residence: Marac Village, Moruga

Bowling Style: Left-arm orthodox

Batting Style: Right-handed batsman

Favourite Cricketers: Akeal Hosein,

AB de Villiers

Star Performance: 6/32, 39 runs

Q: How would you rate this performance among the other performances you have had?

A: I would rate this performance highly because it was my first five-wicket haul for my school, so I think I would remember this one for a long time.

Do you consider your batting or bowling more important to Naps this season and why?

Being one of the few senior players on our very young team, I consider both my batting and bowling to be important for my team. This season I’ve been contributing both with the bat and ball in hand.

What improvement is needed from Naps to compete for the title this season?

As mentioned before, we have a relatively young team. In our last game, we had five guys who just finished playing Under-14 last season. In terms of improvement, we just have to keep working harder in all our departments – batting, bowling and fielding. For now, we just want to continue playing good cricket game by game and see how far we can go this season.

What are your goals as a cricketer? How far do you want to make it?

My short-term goal is to help my school lift that title and my long-term goals are to play for the national team and eventually the West Indies.

You come from a cricket family, how much do your older brothers inspire you?

My brothers have inspired me to always do my best not only in cricket, but other aspects of life.

Do you often get advice from your brothers?

Yes, I do often get advice from my brothers on the things that I need to work on to improve my game, whether it’s my batting or bowling.

What did you work on during the off-season?

Well, I worked a lot on both batting and bowling with my brother Cephas Cooper.

A lot of information was shared while tagging along with him to his national training during the 2023 July/August school break.

I also played football for my school which enabled me to stay fit.