West Indies' Rising Stars Hone Spin Skills in Chennai Training Camp

While the senior West Indies team faced Bangladesh in a home series, the next generation of Caribbean cricketers embarked on a transformative journey thousands of miles away in Chennai. 

Training in Chennai

Rising stars from the region, including Jewel Andrew, Kirk McKenzie, Ackeem Auguste, Jordan Johnson, Matthew Nandu, Kevin Wickham, and Teddy Bishop, honed their skills under the watchful eyes of West Indies academy head coach Ramesh Subasinghe, Under-19 coach Rohan Nurse, and Super Kings academy coach Sriram Krishnamurthy.

The decision to host the camp in Chennai followed glowing reviews from New Zealand players Rachin Ravindra and Ben Sears, who had trained there ahead of a victorious Test series against India. 

Mastering Spin

The camp provided the West Indies players exposure to diverse conditions, including red and black soil pitches, and a variety of spin techniques, from wrist spin to the elusive mystery spin.

This overseas training experience, a first for the West Indies Academy, proved invaluable. During one session, Andrew, McKenzie, Wickham, and Auguste practiced an array of sweeps, including reverse and slog sweeps. Their efforts bore fruit as they showcased these techniques in a 50-over match on a challenging slow pitch. As part of the camp, they competed in one two-day match and three one-day games, with local talent, such as ambidextrous wrist spinner Jhathavedh Subramanyan, elevating the competition.

For 21-year-old Ackeem Auguste, fresh off a CPL victory with St. Lucia Kings, the camp marked a significant step in his career. Reflecting on the experience, Auguste noted that adapting to the unique conditions of black and red clay pitches required deliberate planning. 

"It's been good so far in Chennai, trying to adapt to new surfaces and incorporate into my game," Auguste says. "I think for both black and red clay, you need to come up with a game plan and try to stick to it as much as possible. Naturally, I sweep, so it comes naturally to me here too. So, just deciding on which sweep I'd want to play - a paddle sweep, reverse sweep or just a hard conventional sweep."

Kirk McKenzie, a 24-year-old who debuted against India in 2023, also found the camp enriching. Though not naturally inclined to sweep, McKenzie recognised the importance of expanding his game. He worked on utilising the depth of the crease and managing the unpredictable turn and bounce characteristic of subcontinental pitches. The experience, McKenzie believed, would serve him well in future tours to the region.

Reflecting on the developmental challenges in the Caribbean, Subasinghe highlighted the lack of a comprehensive training infrastructure despite the region’s illustrious cricketing history. With no state-of-the-art facilities, innovative solutions like the Chennai camp are essential. Subasinghe pinpointed the significance of such initiatives in preparing young players like McKenzie, who showed promise but struggled in his initial Test outings. Subasinghe viewed these experiences as pivotal for equipping players to handle the pressures of international cricket.

Closing Development Gaps

The Chennai camp also underscored the collaborative efforts to bridge the developmental gap. Coach Sriram’s inputs enriched the players’ understanding, while Nurse’s participation ensured that insights from the camp would be shared with the broader pool of young Caribbean talent. Subasinghe stressed the importance of creating opportunities in the absence of regular 'A' team tournaments, explaining that targeted initiatives like this camp are crucial for nurturing the next generation.

"We don't have a proper development program in the Caribbean and not a lot of facilities as well for a proud nation that has won six ICC championships, including an Under-19 World Cup. We don't have a state-of-the-art high-performance facility, so we need to be innovative with our approach and this camp in Chennai was one way of doing it. It's very hard to get pathway international tournaments and mainly the big boards play against the other big boards. So for us, it's about identifying the targeted players and then exposing them to different learning environments in a creative way, which we are trying to do," Subasinghe says.

Despite financial constraints, the West Indies cricket board remains committed to fostering talent. By immersing their players in diverse learning environments, the board aims to cultivate resilience, adaptability, and a deeper understanding of the game—qualities essential for reclaiming their position among cricket’s elite.