Who is West Indies Under -19 Women’s captain - Ashmini Munisar?


image-lczu3clvWest Indies Women’s U19 captain Ashmini Munisar

Most cricketers who end up being greats in their careers have a thing in common, but undoubtedly, there are always exceptions. 

Though, largely speaking, by self admission, they state Cricket happened to them at the backyard. 

That place in the house that’s perhaps a touch underrated but holds tremendous promise in converting wannabe talents into blooming athletes. 

In some cases, it was being up against a big brother. In other cases, it was pairing up with another bunch of cousins or siblings in going against a direct family member . 

Backyard cricket has done a world of good to so many albeit having one thread that’s incredibly common to most; it’s that many take to the sport at a very young age. 

Those who go a long way, it is said, begin early. 

Except the same isn’t true for the current West Indies Women’s captain of the under-19 team contesting in South Africa. 

Ashmini Munisar was already fifteen by the time she took to the great sport. 

No longer a kid that had to be coaxed to get into cricket and yet; not a stranger that had zero idea about the game that often brings out the best from the people of the Caribbean. 

And here she is; the noted Guyanese all-round talent is a name that world cricket is already knowing and knowing quite well with each passing contest in the land of the Protea fire. 

Now while she wasn’t a kid blessed with a undeniable cricketing pedagogy having taken to the sport only in her mid teens, the progress from that point onwards was noteworthy and steady, to say in the least. 

By that time she turned 16, Ashmini Munisar had already represented her club team- Rose Hall Canje Cricket club as also her school’s team, which was the New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary school. 

This was at Bernice, in Guyana and in both the under-19 as well as the senior levels. 

Though the real breakthrough, or so one reckons, came in 2022 where Ashmini Munisar captured back to back scalps during her regional debut (at the senior level). 

For a rising teenage cricketer, this was a turn in the tide in that it brought her to wider attention to the talent scouting aficionados in the West Indies. 

Her appointment as the captain of the under-19 West Indies side is an incredible ascension in that it brings a Guyanese to the forefront of a national Caribbean team’s leadership, something that was last felt poignantly and jubilantly during the great Clive Lloyd’s days. 

Even undisputed cricketing heroes from the region that came after Lloyd, note Chanderpaul and Sarwan couldn’t make profoundly impactful leaders. 

And while comparing the 19-year-old to the stalwarts of West Indies cricket would be a fool’s errand for she’s only just begun, what couldn’t be any more exciting is the prospect of imagining as to where might this leader end up with the current squad at her disposal. 

With a win already under her kitty (against Ireland), with several bold contests to go, such as the one against the Aussies and India, it could be said a trial by fire awaits the calm headed Guyanese cricketer. 

For someone who truly merits her progress to her coaches in the island pearl that’s Berbice in Guyana, this Virat Kohli-admiring , Hayley Matthews-adoring right hander is ready to go. 

Confessing in no uncertain terms that whilst she was excited with the prospect of leading the Windies side in the current Under 19 World Cup for the women in South Africa, Munisar also lent meaning to the madness that such a huge challenge offers. 

She confessed she’s most grateful for getting an opportunity to rub shoulders with the big names in this stage. 

She’s no ordinary campaigner either, even during the cricketing suspension during Covid, Munisar ran the laps of the ground, participated in fitness drills and soon as regular cricket resumed, she was back among the runs and the wickets. 

Probably all of that has led the mild-mannered fan of Stafanie Taylor to where she is; as the leader of a cricketing side that brings palpable excitement to the sport but is also in dire need for a next generation of talents that can inspire a revolution in the Caribbean. 

Surely while there are names like Zaida James and Trishan Holder already in the fold, one won’t mind seeing the captain Ashmini Munisar lead by an example. 

After all, as a certain Bob Marley had said and evocatively as ever, “Get up, stand up, stand up for the fight!” 

One win is under the belt but let’s keep fighting Ashmini.