By E. Glenford Prescott
Windwards Islands top order batsman, Sunil Ambris has created history by becoming St. Vincent and the Grenadines youngest senior cricket team captain.
Ambris, 23, was named by the selectors to lead the team to the 2016 senior Windwards tournament in Grenada at monthend. He takes over from wicketkeeper, Lindon James who has opted out this year, for personal reasons.
The Guardian General Saints batsman was named ahead of the experienced Miles Bascombe, who is part of the 14-man squad and led one of the teams in the two-match trials.
Ambris ,one of the leading batsmen in the Windwards, has shown signs of maturity over the last year or so and was seen as the best candidate to lead the team going forward, an SVG Cricket Association source said.
Appointed to lead his club with senior players including his brother Romel Currency and ex-West Indies seamer, Kenroy Peters both former captains, Ambris has warmed to the task with obvious guidance and support from the two veterans. This is borne out on match days with his regular conversation with them on the field.
His job at the national level could be a bit more challenging with Bascombe, Peters, West indies A team pacer Delorn Johnson and the experienced Donwell Hector all expected to battle for a place in the Windwards team and may be more taken up with their own future than acting as advisors to the captain.
A shy and at times timid individual for the most part Ambris, could buckle under pressure or come of age, one analyst opined.
His ability with the bat has never been in question since scoring his first Premier Division century (116) against Police 2 as a 15-year-old. However, many have questioned his temperament at certain times and SVGCA sources are confident that his sense of appreciation of where he wants to go could be the catalyst for his renaissance.
In a conversation on his elevation, Ambris, sporting one of his shy smiles, said he was happy to have been chosen and recognises the task ahead in knowing that not everyone will be in his corner.
He will lead an SVG team, which sources say include Atticus Browne Gidron Pope, Miles Bascombe, Donwell Hector, Casmond Walters, Rodney Lawrence, Kenneth Dember, Asif Hooper, Kenroy Peters, Shacquille Browne, Delorn Johnson, Roneil Jeffery and Obed McCoy