West Indies and Trinidad and Tobago Under-19 all-rounder Yannic Cariah is ecstatic after scoring a century to lead the young Windies to third place in the recently-concluded ICC Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand.

It was always the youngster’s ambition to notch a century-he struck 110 not out versus Sri Lanka-at the Youth World Cup and despite not being as consistent as he wanted, the 17-year-old El Dorado East Secondary student is still happy with his performance and is now working towards gaining a place on the national senior team.

’One of my goals was to score a hundred and try to be as consistent as possible. Well, I achieved one of my goals in scoring my hundred, but I wasn’t as consistent as I wanted to be with the bat,’ he said on Friday.

On scoring his ton, Cariah recalled: ’The team was under pressure at the time and I didn’t have any big scores coming into that game, so I needed to take up the mantle. It was a great feeling scoring a hundred in a World Cup. I was ecstatic. It was a privilege to represent the West Indies.

’My next goal is trying to get on to the Trinidad and Tobago senior team and maintain a place in the team and perform at my best. My long-term goal is to be an elite professional cricketer and try to put West Indies cricket back at the top.’

Becoming ’an elite professional cricketer’ is a very ambitious goal for the youngster and he may well be on the right track after his recent performances in New Zealand, which have sparked some interest from T&T Cricket Board chairman of selectors Dudnath Ramkessoon.

Ramkessoon, who was at Gilbert Park, California yesterday for the W Connection Wanderers match against Queen’s Park Cricket Club, noted his excitement over the youth players coming out of the Under-19 World Cup.

He praised Cariah’s performance with the bat and ball, saying: ’He is definitely someone for the future.

’He did very well and we will have to give him some serious consideration as a future prospect for the national team,’ Ramkessoon added.

Cariah, who hails from Coal Mine in Sangre Grande, has been previously touted as one of the better youth players in Trinidad and Tobago cricket, copping the Under-15 MVP among other accolades. He has also been in training with the national squad and was one of the young players on show in the 2008 Gerry Gomez North South Memorial Classic.

’He was able to perform and compete effectively at that level and I think it augurs well for Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies cricket,’ said the T&T chairman of selectors.

Of the other Trinidad and Tobago players in the Windies U-19 squad in New Zealand, Ramkessoon added: ’Young (Yannick) Ottley was injured and did not get a chance to play in many games. Young Evin Lewis did not perform that well, he will probably realise how much more work is needed to perform at that level. They can now go back to their clubs and work on their games and improve for the future.’

Cariah and Ottley both play for CLICO Preysal in the TTCB Premier League, while Lewis opens the batting for PowerGen Sports.

Ramkessoon also noted that the national selectors will be convening soon and one of the topics they are sure to discuss is the performance of Cariah.

-trinidadexpress-