GOTCHA! Barbados pacer Ryan Nurse (left) celebrates taking
the wicket of Windward Islands' Hyron Shallow on the last day of their
Carib Beer match at the Tanteen Ground.
Ryan
Nurse, Barbados' bright cricket talent, was born on 24 April 1983. 'Chicken
Breast', as he is affectionately called by his friends, attends the St.
George Secondary School.
Ryan is dangerously quick with his right-arm fast medium bowling and devastating
with his left-handed batting so is proving himself to be a useful all-rounder.
In Zealand the Under 19's performed admirably, going right through to
the the semi-finals before being eliminated by the eventual champions
Australia. Nurse took 13 wickets earning him the title of the Young West
Indies' leading bowler in the Championship.
Before leaving the Caribbean the team were encouraged by the then WICB
president, Wes Hall, to "uphold the finest traditions of the regional
game during the Youth World Cup in Zealand. This is a grand opportunity
for you to showcase to the world what we in the West Indies already know
-- at the junior level we are as good as anyone else in the world."
Nurse's cricket career started in earnest when he was chosen for the Development
XI in the 1999 Regional Under-19 . After representing Barbados in the
U-19's in 2000 and 2001, he was also chosen to represent his county in
the 2001 Red Stripe Bowl. Nurse further improved his regional profile
with the batting award in the 2002 West Indies Under-19 championship in
Jamaica during the summer where he scored 334 runs to lead Barbados to
the championship title.
This year has been a good one for Nurse as he stormed into a double century
during the Combined Schools team against the BCL in the 2003 Barbados
Cricket Association (BCA) Division One season. He hit 213 with 19 fours
and 18 sixes to propel his team to 350 for eight declared, while the BCL
reached 83 for six in reply at stumps at the Lester Vaughan School.
