CUL DE SAC–St. Maarten's rising superstar cricketer Nathan Edward made another giant leap into his cricket career by receiving a central contract from Cricket West Indies via the Leeward Islands Hurricanes Franchise.
The eighteen (18) year old Edward, who has been blossoming locally, regionally and internationally in youth cricket, will now be paid full-time to play a sport he loves.
Edward was selected by the Leeward Islands Hurricanes Franchise at the West Indies Professional Cricketers Draft last Thursday. Initially, all Territorial Board Franchises in Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago were allowed to select 10 protected players for their franchise. On Thursday, franchises convene to draft five other players for their squads for regional events, which will include the CG United Super50 Cup limited-overs tournament and the West Indies Championship four-day first-class competition.
The draft was conducted over five rounds, where each franchise picked a player in each round. Each franchise chose five players to add to their pre-selected squad of 10 protected players to make a full squad of 15 players – two of whom must be under 25 years on October 1, 2023. The franchises selected their picks from a pool of nearly 100 players.
Once the franchises made their full picks to confirm their 15 retained players, a total of 90 men cricketers across the six franchises will be retained on full-time regional contracts.
Edward, who is a popular sports personality in St. Maarten, was awarded the Youth Sports Person of the Year for 2022. With this contract, Edward is required to make the Leeward Islands Hurricanes Franchise his first team for the duration of the contract, which is one year. He is expected to encamp with the team in St. Kitts when there are no tournaments and will be given a monthly salary.
Edward joins Keacy Carty and Daniel Doram as players from St. Maarten, who are contracted with the Leeward Islands Hurricanes Franchise.
