By Neto Baptiste
National cricketer and last season’s Super 40 MVP, Essan Warner, has hinted he could leave the successful Caribbean Union Bank (CUB) sponsored Bethesda Golden Eagles should a newly formed team, Youth Training Development (YTD), be granted entry into the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association’s (ABCA) domestic programme.
The player, one of five young players to have recently returned from a stint in England, said that the decision is not one he has given much thought to, but one he would have to make if forced to choose.
“That would be a hard choice for me but YTD is just like an initiative they are trying to get off in terms of youngsters who want to play cricket and for the youngsters trying to develop their game a bit more, so if we do get a team I don’t mind playing for them but that would have to be a decision I would have to make on my own,” he said.
In May this year, president of the YTD and former national footballer, Kerry Skepple, revealed that the group, which originally started in New Winthorpes, had applied to the cricket association for membership.
Warner, one of several youth players who has been training with the group over the past several months, said they have aided in his continued development having worked with a number of their coaches.
“Before I left it was Robert Joseph and he was part of the group YTD which is part of a cricket club we are trying to build for youngsters to come through, including women.
“The second coach I have is Winston Benjamin who I train with almost every morning and Ridley Jacobs as I had him when I was playing for Combined Schools and whatever,” he said.
Warner amassed 341 runs and grabbed 24 wickets in the Super 40 tournament as Bethesda clinched the title on the last-ball in a thrilling final against Anderson Carty Empire Nation in February this year in Bethesda.