“There isn’t any shortcut to success. If you wanna be successful, you have to put in the hard yards and always remember to be honest to yourself.” These are the wise words of Guyana Amazon Warriors’ Rayad Emrit as he prepares to head into the 2018 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
The 37-year-old Trinidadian all-rounder is representing the Guyana Amazon Warriors for the third time. He is known for his ability to deceive batsmen with slower balls and cutters which makes him one of the most valuable assets to the team.
He received his big break when he was included in the West Indies squad for an ODI tour of India a few months before the 2007 World Cup. Emrit knocked hard on Windies selection after skippering Trinidad and Tobago to the title in the Los Angeles 20/20 Cricket tournament. Quite deservedly, he was picked for the tour. However, he played only two games though, and batted too low down the order to have a significant impact and took no wickets. He has not received a WI call-up since, but he has been in Trinidad and Tobago’s scheme of things in all forms of the game.
Emrit is an asset for the Guyana Amazon Warriors and was elevated to captain shortly after Martin Guptill’s injury during the 2017 CPL. He is an intelligent bowler who has the ability to break up long-standing partnerships.
He describes himself as someone who is humble and family-oriented, since he has been all about family since growing up. He says that his family did and still does almost everything together and that they have played a huge part in his success today.
Cricket has always been a part of Emrit’s life due to the fact that his father had his own softball team. However, he was not all that interested in the game initially, but at the age of 11, he decided that he wanted to make cricket his career. But, he knew that he also needed an education and would attend the El Dorado Secondary School in Trinidad.
“My dad had his own softball team and I was obviously the youngest, but was also the 12th man most of the times, but when I finally got my opportunity, I never looked back. I represented T&T at the Under-19 level and then I went on to play in the leagues in England for five seasons. I got my opportunity to represent T&T in 2003 and thankfully, to this day I’m still playing.”
Emrit has played for a number of franchises throughout his career and some of the notable ones include the Stanford All-Stars, Barbados Tridents, Kerala Kings and Chittagong Vikings. However, he notes that of all the franchises he has played for, the Guyana Amazon Warriors are the most organised and his absolute favourite.
“I am, as some people say, the one who goes unrecognised but gets the work done, more often than not. Guyana Warriors is one of the most organised franchises I have been with so far, and I enjoyed every minute of this experience.”
Emrit plans to continue taking those wickets and contributing with his bat, but, most importantly he plans to share his experiences with the younger players on the team this year.
“It’s an honour to represent Guyana and I take great pride in doing so.” Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
