West Indies may be heading for defeat in the First Test at Lord’s but it’s been a memorable debut for former Cockermouth all-rounder Mikyle Louis.
He top-scored in the first innings with 27, and although he only managed 14 inn the second innings he received plenty of praise from the TV pundits for the controlled way he had gone about both visits to the crease.
Louis, who spent part of the 2022 season with Cockermouth, had made history by being the first player from St Kitts to be selected for the West Indies.
In the 96 years of West Indies’ Test cricketing history, Louis became the first player to make his debut from the island of St Kitts. Despite being one of the oldest islands in the Caribbean, none have emerged to make their Test debut.
Even before he made his national debut he received significant accolades from the government of St Kitts and Nevis and this included a national recognition award which was a $10,000 grant.
He could well have a road as well as a stand at Warner Park Cricket Stadium named in his honour.
But his prowess wasn’t just highlighted by his batting – one of the stand-out moments of the Test came when he was in the field and produced what has been described as one of the greatest run-out the old ground has seen.
Louis threw the stumps down from a good distance to run out Shoaib Bashir, a direct hit that knocked the stump out of the ground and had all his team-mates celebrating wildly.
West Indies have lost six wickets in their second innings at the end of the second day and an innings defeat looks likely this morning.
