Alton Crafton, Coach of St Lucia’s national U15 cricket team believes Theo Edward with the right guidance and work ethic has the potential to become a West Indies player in the next few years.

The 15-year-old student of the St Lucia Sports Academy, who in 2019 expressed his ambition to one day play for the West Indies, scored four consecutive centuries in the recent WINLOTT Windward Islands Cricket Board U15 Tournament that helped guide his side to the title playing undefeated.

Edward had scores of 198, 101, 137 and 104 for a total of 540 runs and average of 135.

“Even if you are playing in your backyard, you might score one 100, but four in a row?” said Crafton, who was impressed with Edward’s output during the tournament declaring that he is confident that the all-rounder can make it all the way to the top.

“Certainly. If he just follows the right pathway and have the correct influence around him, for sure.”

Speaking with Sportsmax.TV days after the conclusion of the tournament, the proud coach revealed that while it is still early days young Edward is always showing signs that already has many of the tools needed to become a successful international cricketer.

“He knows his game and he keeps his game very simple,” he said.

“You wouldn’t find him going over the top in the first five overs. He’ll get set and play each ball on its merit and he has high levels of concentration. He can focus for long periods of time and he did so exceptionally during the tournament.

“At that age, he is a work in progress, He knows the game. He has a very good pull shot. He drives off the back foot and front foot. There is always room for improvement but what he has now is enough to carry him through.”

Edward and his teammate Leon Alexander, who also enjoyed a successful tournament with both bat and ball practice with Crafton’s training group. The coach reveals that even though both spend time working on their physical skills, they also focus on other critical areas of development.

“We put a lot of emphasis on them (skills) and they get a chance to practice, practice, practice (but) there is a lot of emphasis on the mental space, keeping them in the right direction, letting them know what exactly they are about  and I have no doubt they will go all the way.”

 Crafton said it is essential that Edward keeps the right people around him to ensure that he maintains his discipline and focus and believes he always has that.

“I know for sure he has his dad in his corner. He just needs to keep it narrow and simple to people he can trust and just move on and keep with the hard work,” he said.

For now, he just needs to spend a little more time working on his game while finding a balance with his academics, Crafton said, the rest will take care of itself.

“We will give him all the support that we can give him,” he said.

 

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