By Neto Baptiste
Wicketkeeper-batsman, Devon Thomas, has confirmed that he will enter the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) player draft reportedly slated for later this month.
The player’s revelation comes on the heels of news that he was not retained by the St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots for this year’s instalment of the tournament scheduled to take place between 19 August and 26 September.
“It’s franchise cricket, so at the end of the day it’s what their [Patriots] plans are, because it may be different, but it is nothing new to me still. My hope is for someone to give me an opportunity, and hopefully someone will need a player of my class to fit their plans so I don’t know what to say at this moment, just hoping someone will give me an opportunity,” he said.
Patriots, last week, announced it had retained or signed Denesh Ramdin from the Trinbago Knight Riders, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis (Trinidad & Tobago), Fabian Allen (Jamaica), Sheldon Cottrell (Jamaica), Rayad Emrit (Trinidad & Tobago) and Dominic Drakes (Barbados).
The Patriots also announced that Australian Simon Helmot will be the head coach.
Thomas admitted that although he started well in the last year’s tournament, he did not have the best of finishes.
“Well in the CPL I started very good, but I ended very poorly so that’s something I have to look at and even in the Super50, I started very good, but I didn’t finish that well and the Four Day, I really didn’t do anything in the Four Day,” the player said.
In an attempt to set the record straight as well, the Antiguan rubbished widespread belief that he has given up on wicket-keeping, an attribute many believe may still be his best chance of making it onto the senior West Indies team.
“No, I wouldn’t say that I’ve given up on the wicket-keeping, because I wicket-keep in the shorter version and it is just the Four Day competition that I haven’t kept wicket in a long while, but I just need to go and be more consistent. I know that you and I spoke when I went to play Leeward Islands tournament, and I told you I just have to be more consistent with my opportunities,” he said.
In 2019, Thomas amassed 180 in 11 innings with a highest of 71. The player, in 2018, made 222 in eight innings with his best being 58 runs.