Young, Gifted & Windian: Assad Fudadin
Mon, Jan 17, '05
Rain threatened to ruin the debut first class season for their native countries for a number of Shell Academy 2004 graduates ? Richard Kelly from Trinidad, Kenroy Williams from Barbados, Liam Sebastien from Windward Islands, and Ryan Ramdass, Trevon Garraway and Assad Fudadin from Guyana.
The showers relented however, allowing play in the first round Guyana/Trinidad & Tobago encounter at Couva. A proud Guyanese batsman was able to contribute 29 runs and share in a significant partnership with his team mate.
That day on Sunday 9 January 2005 when Assad Fudadin walked out to bat wearing Carib Beer uniforms with 'Guyana' boldly imprinted on them, all of Rose Hall in Berbice would have been justly proud.
Growing up in Berbice where he lived just across from the Rose Hall Youths and Sports Club, young Fudadin spent a lot of time at the cricket ground, so it was only natural that he would make cricket his main sport. "That was the thing in my community. I always went to look at the games. The people in my community were fanatical about cricket so whilst looking at games, I decided to join the club at age 10, and my dad was supportive," said Fudadin.
Assad Fudadin excelled and quickly rose through the ranks. "At age 13, I made my first inter-county team, that's the Berbice U-15 team and at age 14 I made the Guyana U-15 team," he explained. Based on his performance in the regional tournament he was selected to participate in the U-15 Cost Cutter Challenge tournament as part of the West Indies team. "I always say that was my stepping stone. I was only 15, and playing in England for the first time was really a good experience for me and I learnt a lot from that tour," Fudadin reminisced.
The West Indies went on to surprise the cricketing world by winning that tournament, and the young Guyanese batsman talked about the experience. He said "I had a lot of confidence coming back from that tour because we won that tournament and I was a part of that run scoring. I was the Man-of-the-Match in the finals so it did a lot of positive for me. I scored 55. We had to score 170 something and we did it in the last over. I got out with 30 runs left, and the 9th wicket pair, they made it."
Many of his team mates from that tournament progressed to the West Indies U-19 team that reached the finals of the Youth World Cup in 2004. Fudadin was not to be left out of that thrilling encounter.
This is how he summed up that tournament. "We played well until the final. We had a bad match in the final. We did pretty well until the batting. I think the batting let us down in the finals. We were going good and the openers did pretty well, and then they had that run out. In the middle we slowed it down a little bit, and then the number seven pair of batsmen, they were going pretty well and then we had run outs again."
Fudadin batted at number four and said he did not bat very well in the finals. "Coming up to the finals I did pretty well but I think I was trying too hard. I wanted to do well and at one part of my innings, I was thinking about not getting out. I think that's why I was in my shell for a bit. And when I decided to pick it up, something went wrong," analyzed the soft-spoken Fudadin.
Last summer, he was one of four members of that team to attend the Shell Cricket Academy in Grenada, under the expert tutelage of former West Indies senior team coach, Roger Harper. Much emphasis was placed on the mental aspect of the young players' game. Asked to comment on this part of the programme, Fudadin said "coming here I learnt a lot of things in the mental side. I have improved a little bit in my concentration and to relax my body and learnt what things to do when you are in those situations and what not to do and to get positive thoughts in your mind all the time."
Assad Fudadin himself has had experience in tutelage. Armed with five CXC passes, he spent several months teaching Social Studies to 13 and 14 year olds at Lower Corentyne School ? students who were just a shade younger than he was at the time. This he found challenging and has probably resulted in him not wanting to coach. His cricket responsibilities eventually ended his short teaching career. "I was in and out of school, the kids were suffering, so I decided to step down and resign," said Fudadin.
So far, his career is going according to plan, except for not making the one-day Guyana team for the October 2004 regional tournament. But with the West Indies players away in Australia, fourteen openings have had to be filled in Carib Beer squads. Assad Fudadin has one and hopes that one day he too will be called up to the West Indies senior team.
"That's my main goal right now. I am hoping to graduate as I represented the U-19 in the World Cup this year. So I am hoping to make it in the 2007 team, if possible. That's my main goal."
With all of the fanatical fans in Rose Hall behind him, how can he not succeed?