分类： sports

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – July 10, 2026 – At just 19 years old, Jamaican left-arm wrist spinner Vitel Lawes is hours away from turning a lifelong dream into reality: earning his first cap for the West Indies senior men’s cricket team at the upcoming one-day international series against New Zealand. Raised in the small rural community of Wakefield Savannah in St Catherine, Jamaica, Lawes has quickly climbed the ranks to become one of Caribbean cricket’s most exciting young prospects, following a breakout performance at the 2026 ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup earlier this year.

At that tournament, Lawes turned heads across the global cricketing community, finishing with 10 wickets and bowling more dot balls than any other competitor – a stat that highlights both his elite wicket-taking ability and unmatched control over line and length. His consistent, high-impact displays earned him a spot in the prestigious ICC Team of the Tournament, cementing his reputation as a future star for the regional side.

When the five-match ODI series kicks off in Guyana on July 11, Lawes is set to become the 230th player to represent the West Indies in 50-over international cricket, donning the iconic maroon uniform that is the pride of Caribbean cricket lovers across the world.

Lawes recounted the emotional moment he received his selection call from West Indies head coach Daren Sammy, just after finishing a Senior Cup final match in Jamaica. “When I got the news, I had just concluded the Senior Cup final in Jamaica and was heading back to my home club to celebrate,” he said. “I saw a couple of missed calls on my phone, returned them, and got the good news. I was overjoyed, and on top of winning the senior cup, it was just an incredible happy day for me.”

After hanging up, the young spinner’s first move was to share the life-changing news with his closest loved ones and supporters. “I actually called my mother first, and then I called my mentor after, and we had a long talk about it,” he explained, ahead of joining the team’s high-performance white-ball training camp in Antigua.

Reflecting on his journey to the senior squad, Lawes described the path as challenging but deeply rewarding, crediting mental resilience for keeping him grounded through setbacks. “It has been a long and tedious process, a lot of hard work, and I’m just happy to see it pay off,” he said. “During the journey there will be doubt, but that’s where the positive mindset comes into play – you just have to believe in yourself.”

Lawes pointed to two key experiences that shaped his development ahead of his first international call-up: his time at the Under-19 World Cup, and the ongoing mentorship of former West Indies all-format spinner Nikita Miller, who has worked with him as a specialist coach since October 2025. “The under-19 experience has shaped me a lot to be honest, pairing that with working with somebody as great as Nikita Miller has given me key insights and helped my mindset going into this present stage of my career,” Lawes said. “I bring deception and energy to the team. As Nikita Miller told me, it is about controlling your emotions. When you experience something as exciting as this, it is important to enjoy it, but always remember that every day is a new day, and there will be a new challenge waiting.”

Miller, who earned 94 international caps across formats for the West Indies, has praised Lawes’ rare combination of natural talent and mature professionalism. “One of the first things which stood out to me is his professionalism – he is always on time, he is eager to learn, and brings a strong work ethic to every session,” Miller said. “Vitel has a unique skill set that not many international teams have at their disposal. But what impresses me the most is his willingness to keep improving while remaining disciplined, and he is also very open to feedback. I think that these qualities along with his natural talent give him a solid foundation to become a very good player.”

Small in stature but confident and charismatic, Lawes counts current West Indies stars Rovman Powell, Andre Russell, and limited-overs captain Shai Hope among his biggest role models. Now, as he prepares to step onto the international field, he says he hopes his journey can inspire the next generation of young Caribbean cricketers. “This call up I hope is the beginning of something great; the start of my story,” Lawes said.

For countless young cricketers across the Caribbean who grow up dreaming of wearing the maroon cap, Lawes’ rise to the senior team serves as a powerful reminder that raw talent, when paired with relentless hard work and resilience, can turn childhood dreams into reality. At 19, his international journey is only just beginning – but all signs point to a bright future for the young spinner from rural Jamaica.

For emerging women’s cricket talent Realeanna Grimmond, cricket was never a chosen passion—it was a legacy woven into her childhood from the very start. Born into a family where both parents were active cricket players, Grimmond grew up traveling the circuit with her folks before she could even put words to how deeply the sport resonated with her. “I used to travel a lot with them so I kind of just fell into cricket as well,” she reflected on those formative early years. What began as a casual family inheritance quickly bloomed into a focused, fierce ambition. After earning a spot on Guyana’s Under-19 side, the rising star got her first taste of international youth competition, representing the West Indies at the ICC Women’s U19 World Cup. Even years later, she can vividly recall the rush of emotion that hit her when she heard the regional anthem ring out around the ground for the first time. “I just felt goosebumps, just being there with your teammates and also hearing *Rally Round the West Indies*, I still get goosebumps from that,” she said. As one of the most talked-about young prospects poised to shape the next era of West Indies women’s cricket, Grimmond makes no secret of how much she owes to the legends who paved the path before her. She counts senior team stars Hayley Matthews and Stafanie Taylor as her biggest role models, crediting their consistent professionalism and on-field wisdom as a constant learning tool for her own burgeoning career. “Their experience shows up constantly in how they approach their game, and I just feel like I can learn a lot from them just to build my career as well,” she explained. One of the most formative experiences of Grimmond’s early senior career came during her first international series against Australia, where she opened up about the crippling nerves and self-doubt that plagued her when she first stepped out to bat against one of the world’s top-ranked teams. It was veteran teammate Chinelle Henry who pulled her back from that anxiety, offering a simple but transformative piece of advice: just be unapologetically yourself. “I was thinking, how can I be as good as them? I felt as though they were really experienced, and it was my first time playing against them. I can remember when I went out to bat, I was really nervous, and I was batting with Henry at the time, and she spoke to me, she told me to be myself, just express myself, and from there that just boosted my confidence and I just kept playing my game,” Grimmond recalled. That lesson became a cornerstone of her mental approach to the game, building the self-belief she would carry into her next series against Ireland this July. Heading into the three-match ODI tour, Grimmond said she was holding onto that hard-won lesson: “I think what I can take into this series against Ireland from what I’ve learned playing against Australia is that I have to always be ready for anything, because at any point, anytime, anything can happen. It might not always go my way, but I just have to work on myself and have that mental toughness, and you know, not just thinking that because they are really good that I can’t be as good as them.” On July 10, those words proved to be far more than pre-series hype. In the opening ODI of the series held in Dublin, Grimmond stepped onto the international stage in a way no one could have expected, turning in a masterclass innings of 91 runs as the West Indies chased down Ireland’s target of 270 to secure a dominant nine-wicket win. Opening the batting alongside captain Hayley Matthews—who finished the innings unbeaten on 150 runs—the young pairing put on a commanding 258-run opening stand that broke the game open early, leaving Ireland with no path back into the contest. Grimmond fell just nine runs short of a historic maiden international century, but her knock served as a definitive announcement of her arrival at the senior international level. If her own reflections on her career so far are any indication, the rising star has already learned the most critical lesson in elite sport: no matter the quality of the opposition, belief in her own ability is the one thing she will never compromise on.