IN?FOUR?MATCHES, he has scored three centuries and one half century.
He’s been just as devastating with the ball, too, having taken 20 wickets so far, including a ten-wicket haul.
It’s quite safe to say Deswin Currency is on the rise.
The tall, lanky 14 year-old’s name became synonymous with junior cricket from the time he was a student of Wesley Hall, having since gone on to represent Barbados at the Under-13 level.
But Currency, or “Spiderman” as he is affectionately referred to by his Easy Bake St Leonard’s teammates, has raised the bar during this year’s LIME Under-15 Cricket Competition.
The captain opened the tournament with a sizzling, unbeaten 100 against Garrison, while also finishing with the astounding bowling match figures of 10 for 12. He followed that up with knocks of 120 and 100 not out against Coleridge & Parry and Lester Vaughan respectively.
In his quest for a fourth consecutive ton, he fell for 76 while playing against Princess Margaret on Thursday.
His rich vein of form brings back memories of the high scoring by the likes of Shawn Sargeant, Edison Rock and recently Kraigg Brathwaite, who made 880 runs with five centuries in 2007.
Because of pending duties with the Barbados Under-15 team in St Kitts later this month, Currency may be available for just one more match before the semi-finals should his team advance.
What has made his performances that much more impressive is the fact that all of those tons came in the first innings, where each team is limited to a maximum of 35 overs.
It has forced the usually patient batsman to adjust his batting style – not that he’s having any problems doing so.
“I’m not really accustomed to playing a lot of shots, but whatever my team need me to do I try my best to do,” Currency told SUNSPORT in an exclusive interview recently.
Winning
“My main aim is to bat through the 35 overs and get as many runs as possible. So far it has been working out pretty well for me and for the team because we have been winning.”
And he is no stranger to winning either, having led his school to the title last year, along with chalking up three consecutive championships while representing Passage Road United in the annual Inspire Sports Under-13 National Cricket Tournament.
Currency credits his hard work and the Everton Weekes Centre of Excellence for his improved showing.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work, especially on my batting. I’ve been doing some work at the Centre of Excellence on Tuesdays and Fridays and it has really helped to improve my cricket.
“It has especially helped me in my shot selection, which has allowed me to score a lot faster than I usually do,” the soft-spoken teenager revealed.
And the statistics have shown a drastic improvement.
After scoring just 200 runs in last year’s championship season, he has almost doubled that, having accumulated 396 runs thus far, although he is still some ways off the 48 wickets which he claimed last year with his left-arm orthodox bowling.
Currency’s appetite for runs hasn’t come as a complete shock to his proud father Winston Gittens, who said he always knew it was just a matter of time before his son “clicked”.
Gittens revealed that when his son left primary school he went straight into Under-15 cricket and this had helped his development.
“This year I can really see Deswin’s maturity. I always knew that he had the talent and the skills to score a lot of runs, but this year he has really stepped up to the plate.
“I always tell him that he just needs to be more patient because I know that he has a wide variety of shots and this year he has listened and he has come good,” Gittens said.
