For me, being a debutant you have nothing to lose: Ashley Nurse

West Indies’ off-spinner Ashley Nurse played a crucial role in his team’s highly impressive win over Sri Lanka in their opening match of the Tri-Series at the Harare Sports Club. Nurse bagged three wickets at crucial stages of the match to help Windies defend the total of 227. Having made his T20 International debut in 2011, Nurse has featured in only four matches in the shortest format, since.

The wait was even longer in 50-overs internationals. After being selected in the squad for three series, he didn’t get a chance to play for West Indies before Wednesday (November 16). Nurse wasn’t the only debutant. West Indies also handed Rovman Powell and Shai Hope their ODI caps. While Nurse bagged three wickets, Hope scored a sedate 47 and Powell struck a quick fire 44.

“For me, being a debutant you have nothing to lose. You just have to go out and give it your all,” Nurse said. “And I think all the guys had that attitude today. We’re a young team. We have nothing to lose, so we just go out and play fearless cricket. And congrats to the other guys; Shai batted really well, Rovman batted superbly as well. It was a really commendable performance from the guys.”

Admitting that it was a bit frustrating to stay on the sidelines for long, Nurse said, “This is my third tour, but until now I’ve not got a game. I’ve been on the sidelines watching the guys win sometimes, watching the guys lose sometimes, and it can be a bit frustrating. I thank God for the opportunity and I’m glad I’ve taken the opportunity now.”

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However, when the chance came his way, he shone with the ball, returning with figures of 3 for 46 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 165. Even as Nurse’s maiden wicket came off a long hop, a delivery that Upal Tharanga pushed back to the bowler after misreading the pace, the 27-year old bowler doesn’t want to leave out any credit for the dismissal.

“I guess you could say it all came down to me,” Nurse said. “All I was telling myself is ‘you have to hold on to this one’. It was nice to induce the chance and then take it myself. I did everything to get that wicket!”

Nurse’s exploits with the ball came after a superb effort in the field where he held on to a sharp catch – an edge induced off Kusal Mendis’s bat by Jason Holder which had Sri Lanka reeling at 16 for 3 in chase of 200.

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“It was not an ideal score, but once we got a few wickets with the new ball, we knew we could get the job done.

“We thought we were 20 runs short, but having said that, as a bowling unit you’ve got to go out and just try to defend anything that the batsmen give us to work with.”

The off-spinner also thanked the Zimbabwean crowd that had made its support a lot more vocal for the West Indian side. Apart from the chants and cheers, there were also Bob Marley songs blaring from the Public Announcement system during the innings break.

After the match, the three debutants – Nurse, Hope and Powell – and Carlos Brathwaite went to the Castle Corner to thank the fans.

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“For sure, it was not a big crowd but we could hear them. After the game, the guys went over and basically just said ‘thank you’ to the spectators for the support. Can you guys [in the media] extend the thanks from all of us? I hope we get the same sort of support in Bulawayo,” Nurse concluded.