Mali Richards eyes Middlesex selection

ST JOHN’S: Mali Richards, the 19-year-old son of West Indies batting legend Sir Vivian Richards, is eyeing a first-team pick this summer with the English County Middlesex.

The left-handed young Richards travels to England next month to join the Middlesex reserves, with an opportunity to climb into the County Championship team if he plays well enough. “Basically I am going there with aspirations of somehow pushing my way into the first team,” Richards said on CMC’s CricketPlus DHL Tea-Time Show on Friday. “They have given me the opportunity of starting with the second eleven and from there, my performances will tell whether I deserve to go up into the first team,” added Richards, who turns 20 in September. Richards recently returned to the Caribbean from Australia where he played Grade Cricket in Sydney for the past five months “trying to develop my game in different conditions.”

A budding tennis star in his early teens before deciding he wants to pursue a professional cricket career, Richards, who was born in England while his father played there in the 1980s, said his trip to Australia was good for him. “It was good experience in a very competitive league,” he said. Richards suggested individual talent in the Caribbean is equivalent to the Australians, but added that there is a greater volume in the current world cricketing powerhouse. Richards reiterated his preference for West Indies representation if he lifts his game to that level.