NATHAN SEALING HIS FUTURE

At just 17 years of age, Nathan Sealy appears to be well on his way to a bright future in the sport of cricket. His start in cricket was no different from most Barbadian boys. He recalls playing cricket when he was age 6. Whenever there was time, a bat and a ball Nathan would do what felt natural to him; he would play cricket. He liked cricket as much as any other boy his age and never thought of himself as gifted with any abilities above the norm.

While at Luther Thorne Primary School one of his teachers took note of Nathan’s cricket abilities and encouraged him to join the Empire Youth Cricket Program at the famous Empire Club in Bank Hall. The teacher who spotted Nathan was well qualified to recognize cricket talent having played the game at all levels for most of his life, that teacher was Jason Haynes. At Empire, the young and excited cricketer came under the tutelage of Mr. Haynes and another experienced cricketer, Ian Perryman Jr. After long periods of training sessions on Wednesdays and Saturdays Nathan started to develop his skills and most of all his love for the game of cricket.

Sealy is a natural right-hander, but he bowls with his left hand. This ambidextrous feature is limited to cricket and came about almost by accident. When he was asked to bowl, he just picked up the ball with his left hand and bowled. Both Haynes and Perryman knew this type of dexterity was common in cricket and left Nathan where he was comfortable, batting right-handed and bowling left-handed.

Nathan represented Luther Thorne Primary School at cricket and got the feel of competitiveness, he loved it. Doing his best and winning was addictive. He also recognized the importance of teamwork and leadership. His first five-wicket haul was for his primary school, but little did he know then that five-wicket hauls would become a regular feature of his game.

In the Barbados Cricket Supplies Under 13 Tournament in 2017, Nathan Sealy made an outstanding knock of 140 from 89 balls playing from Empire Juniors against the Franklyn Stephenson Academy. In 2018 Nathan as the captain of the Empire Juniors- a group of talented young players- would lead them to an epic final against Passage Road Juniors. Passage Road won that final, but it was a graduation of sorts for an Empire team that had never reached a final.

At 17 Nathan’s cricket career has only just started but a look at his performances easily indicates the direction this Christ Church Foundation Schoolboy is headed.

In an Under -15 game vs St. George Secondary School, he got to his highest score of 154 not out, he has taken 10 wickets for 30 runs against Alleyne School and outstanding match figures of 15 for 48 runs against Lester Vaughn, where he took 7 wickets in the first innings and returned to take 8 in the second innings.

Nathan is currently playing in various BCA cricket tournaments both for his Foundation School as well as his Empire Club.

In the recently concluded T20 tournament Nathan bagged 10 wickets. In the BCA Super 50 Cup, the left-handed spinner had the most wickets (26) which includes a 7-wicket haul vs Carlton (a hat-trick) and a 6-wicket haul vs Police. When you add 125 runs to Nathan’s credit it is easy to accept that he had outstanding performances in the Super 50 Cup series.

Nathan Sealy has represented Barbados at under -15, under-17, and under-19 levels and was the co-captain of the West Indies Under-15 team which toured England in 2019. This was affected by rain and very little cricket was played much to the disappointment of Nathan and his teammates.

 Nathan is honing his bowling skills under the mentorship of West Indies left-hand spinner Jomel Warrican. He also looks towards another West Indies player Justin Greaves as someone to emulate as a well-rounded cricketer. It is interesting to note that he has been sufficiently influenced by the professional players from his Empire Club. Apart from these players, he has high regard for Bangladeshi Shakib Al Hassan as an ideal cricket role model and he is his favorite cricketer. His favorite bowler is Trinidadian Akeal Hosein.

The performances and achievements of Nathan Sealy at such a young age are clear evidence that he can develop into an international cricketer. From a typical little Bajan boy who liked to play bat and ball Nathan is now a good student of the game, he is learning and maturing into his potential. He acknowledges that getting to the top of cricket is no easy task, but he is committed to giving cricket his best shot. (article & pics by Chris Williams)