
Alick Athanaze has been described as the next big thing in West Indies cricket by experts. The 25-year-old guided his nation to a draw in a Test match against South Africa by playing a fighting knock of 92 runs.
Chasing 298 for victory, West Indies put up a determined fight and managed to reach 201 for 5 with the help of a remarkable innings from Athanaze to draw the match.
Alick Athanaze: Tracking The Path
Advertisement
Just a year into the senior national team, Alick Athanaze has already made a mark in the West Indies cricket. While the legend Brian Lara has called him “the most talented” of West Indies’ current batters, cricket expert Ian Bishop opined that the youngster could be “a leading light in years to come”.
The Dominican cricketer made his List A debut for the West Indies Under-19 team in the 2016–17 Regional Super50 on January 25, 2017. Since then he has played 48 List A matches scoring 1228 runs at an average of 27.90 and strike rate of 83.82.
Athanaze represented West Indies at the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup and topped the charts as the highest run-getter of the tournament scoring 418 runs at an average of 104.50 and strike rate of 95.87.
The southpaw made his first-class debut for the Windward Islands in the 2018–19 Regional Four Day Competition on December 6, 2018. He was the leading run scorer in the 2022–23 West Indies Championship, scoring 647 runs in 10 innings.
Alick Athanaze had shown enough talent to earn him a cap for the senior West Indies national cricket team. He made a blazing ODI debut on June 9, 2023 against United Arab Emirates where he scored 65 off 45 balls. He smashed the joint-fastest half-century on debut in just 26 balls. He has scored 288 runs from 10 ODIs at an average of 28.80 and strike rate of 85.45, including two fifties.
Also Read: West Indies vs South Africa 2024 Test Series: Schedule, Date, Venues, & Squads
The West Indies Opener marked his Test debut on July 12, 2023 against India. He has played eight Tests so far scoring 405 from 15 innings.
The power hitter has played only a single T20 International on May 26, 2024 against South Africa scoring six runs from seven balls at the strike rate of 85.45.