Anyone who knows Travis Blyden knows that cricket is one of his foremost loves.
He dabbled in track & field and achieved some success at Tutorial High School (THS) but he was always the standout petit opening batsman for Costello and by extension at the Woolford Avenue institution. Blyden, 22, was always a hard worker and oftentimes said that he would make cricket his calling after he left school, once he put in the requisite work at his first club Malteenoes Sports Club.
He did. Blyden led the school to the Georgetown final, defeating the Govern-ment Technical Institute (GTI) in that match, before being knocked out in the national semi-final of the Guyana Cricket Board/ Ministry of Education Under-19 competition in 2004.
However, things have not gone the way Blyden had envisaged after school as it relates to donning the national colours, although he did manage to make cricket a career, playing for Rousillac United in Trinidad & Tobago and Civics Sports Club in Canada. He was overlooked by the selectors and also had a bad run of form that produced miserly returns, which prompted his move to play cricket overseas.
For the two years he has played overseas he won the best cricketer award in Trinidad last year and narrowly missed out on that accolade this year before moved to Canada in July. His performance in T&T last year elevated him to the captaincy of his team.
This year in T&T Blyden scored 562 runs and picked up 22 wickets.
After that season ended in July, he was called by Civics where he plied his trade in Canada’s Premiere League.
Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, he said that it was a great experience playing in Canada since he got to wield his bat against First Class players from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
Another feather in Blyden’s cap was when he was named 48th out of the top 50 players in the league. This recognition, according to Blyden, was as a result of the transformation and maturity of his game which came about from playing professionally in T&T. He pointed out also that more improvements came in Canada especially since he was playing against more seasoned campaigners.
“By getting the opportunity to play against some former West Indies, First Class and good league players I learned a lot from them on how the apply myself when it comes to the game of cricket. I take it in and put it into my game and there I saw improvement”, Blyden revealed.
In Canada he played 10 limited overs games and made 328 runs, which included five half centuries; he also captured 25 wickets bowling his offbreaks.
Now that he is home, Blyden said that he has matured physically and mentally and his first order of business is to show selectors that this is his chance. He said that he wants to make runs for his adopted Guyana Defence Force (GDF) so that he may have a chance to represent Demerara at the Inter-County level next year.
Commenting on moving on to play for Guyana he said, “Well every sportsman’s dream is to play for his country, so I am looking to take it step by step and perform for my club GDF and move on to be selected for the Inter-County team.”
Blyden added” “My main goal is to put my head down and focus on my cricket and perform well consistently because when you do that you will always be selected for teams. I will back myself 100% to do that because playing overseas I developed the ability to think the game of cricket a little easier and therefore I will make mature decisions when I am batting and bowling.”
When asked if he doesn’t make it this year what his next move will be Blyden said that anything can happen but his aim is to shine since he has put his disappointment of the past behind him.
“These things happen when you are going up for selection for anything. I just need to shine for them (selectors) to see especially since I already put all of that behind me and just look to play good cricket and keep moving up the ladder of success.
“I will just keep working harder knocking at the door and it will open some day and I will focus on my cricket”, Blyden concluded.
