In the West Demerara Cricket Association, Mc Gill Super Stars has built a reputation of being one of the most competitive sides around and that is mainly because of brothers, Travis and Troy Persaud.
Travis, 22, and Troy, 20, were born to Sudesh Persaud or ‘Buj’ as he is popularly known, who is one of the founding members of the Mc Gill Super Stars 28 years ago and Selena Ramrattan who has also been actively involved in cricket but now functions as an executive on the WDCA board.
The siblings have broken the stereotype that sportsmen are unable to excel at both education and sports as they have been able to balance both. Their father, who is the captain and president of the club, instilled the importance of balancing education and sport into his sons.
They grew up watching their father play cricket and never gave up the love for the sport.
Now they are full-time members playing alongside their father in the club.
They attended Mc Gillivray Primary, a school the club is named after. Troy went on to top his class at the National Grade Six Assessment in 2011 and was awarded a place at The Bishops’ High School. Travis, on the other hand, placed second when he wrote the examination two years prior and was awarded a spot at St. Joseph’s High.
Currently, Troy is currently pursuing his ABE Diploma in Business Management and Marketing while Travis is pursuing a Master’s degree in Business Administration.
They both attend The Business School.
The brothers commenced playing cricket in a small space in the front yard of their Canal Number One residence and as they grew, they gravitated to bigger countryside pastures and eventually to bigger cricket grounds.
If not at home studying or completing assessments, the siblings would usually be at ‘Lords’ or ‘The Fortress’ as they would call the Okoo Cricket Ground in Canal Number One , home of the ‘Mighty Mc Gill’ as they would say, playing tape ball cricket with friends almost every afternoon.
“We will never grow out bottom house cricket and I am sure of that,” Travis told Stabroek Sport.
“Both of us were a part of the club from birth, we were born into it,” Travis stated, while recalling tales from their mother who reminisced of taking Travis, while pregnant with Troy to watch their father play.
As the years went on and roadside cricket evolved, Travis began scoring for the side at nine years before transitioning into the side at 12 where he started to represent the association in the Demerara youth tournaments.
It was this exposure that formed the foundation for the elder brother to represent Guyana at each junior level of Regional cricket and become the first player from West Demerara to captain Guyana. In fact, he has led Guyana to back-to-back titles at the under-19 level in 2015 and 2016.
Troy, one of the many who idolizes Virat Kohli, is an elegant right-handed batsman who plays most of his shots trying to imitate the Indian skipper.
“He is the middle order glue that holds the team together. I would say he is the most elegant batsman in the club right now. If he had the training I had, no doubt he would have been in the national youth side but he was more into his books during his teen years but has now gravitated towards cricket even more,” Travis said of his brother.
For Troy, “the best memories together are batting together. Travis would always advise me what to do when I am batting and tell me to let him take the risks and for me to just bat and get myself in and take up the responsibilities if he is out…he would always advise me and help me when I am not perfecting a shot or if my technique is a bit flawed.”
Travis said, “Troy is a batsman with character. He is one that would dig deep and win a game for you and that is key in a team and I am happy he is a person like that because I am always competitive and I love to see people play good cricket, it’s good to know that we both share the same understanding when it comes to cricket.”
Travis, who was one of the leading batsmen at the recent WDCA Beacon Cafe 50 overs competition, scored 457 runs at an average of 50.7 and a top score of an even 100. He scored two centuries and also captured 13 wickets with his useful off-spin.
He is also the leading batsman in his home club, he copped the most runs award in 2018 and 2019 Mc Gill Super Stars Sports Club Award Ceremony.
