“I think he’s quite above the rest for his age,” Andrew tells Cricinfo on the sidelines of West Indies’ ODI tour of India. “He’s my favourite winger – fast, agile and he just scores every time he gets a ball.”
Andrew’s name predates the precocious-cricketer tag. His mother had a difficult pregnancy with him and he arrived two weeks overdue. She considered him her special, precious baby and named him Jewel. Cricket came soon after. At around 4, while watching his older brother play the sport, Andrew retrieved a ball that had been hit for six and threw it back well enough for a coach to invite him to train with the older children.
From there, the journey began, and it wasn’t just because he liked the sport. Sure, he did, but it was also to keep the brothers occupied from the “bad stuff” going around in the neighbourhood. His mother sold handbags for a living, and with money for cricket equipment sometimes tight, people at his club helped out with gear in the early days. Andrew initially batted left-handed before switching to right-handed because of his brother Hilroy, and playing with cricketers older than him soon became normal.
Being the youngest in most squads has made his latest step up easier. In a West Indies squad containing players he grew up watching, he says the age difference inside the dressing room has not bothered him. “For me, I think it’s a bit normal. I’ve been playing with older guys all my life,” Andrew says. “I try to speak to them as much as I can and in meetings try to give as much input as I can. I think I am heard.”
Other parts of senior international cricket, though, have been less familiar. Andrew says the “gruesome training days” and quick turnarounds between games were things he was not prepared for after the lighter workloads he was accustomed to at home and in Under-19 cricket. The standard of bowling has provided another reminder of the jump. He remembers facing Alzarri Joseph in one of his first training sessions at this level and being surprised by balls climbing towards neck height.
There has been help at the other end of those net sessions too. In 2023, Andrew was a flag bearer during West Indies’ home ODI series against England, when he got to meet Shai Hope, the batter he had grown up admiring. Within a year, Andrew was playing international cricket with Hope as his captain.
“Definitely getting to meet Shai. He’s my favourite player,” Andrew says of his pinch-me moment in international cricket. “Getting to speak to him and being around him was great for a player like me. I try to pick his brain as much as I can.” Andrew has previously spoken about wanting to average 50 like Hope. Now, the conversations are about how to get there.
There have been days when Andrew felt he wasn’t up for the big stages, but realised he had the potential when he spotted opposition coaches exchanging information about his batting during international games. The fact that opponents are proactively thinking about Andrew’s batting – aggressive and exuberant, combined with good control and timing – has made him feel more assured about belonging to the big stage.
The start of his international career, though, has been less than impressive. In three ODI innings, he has two ducks and a top-score of eight. In five T20Is, he averages 15.60 at a strike-rate of less than 100. But handpicked as one for the future, and with the backing of head coach Daren Sammy and batting coach Floyd Reifer, Andrew is now trying to find his feet at this level.
Starting an innings well is one area Andrew now wants to focus on. He was dismissed first ball in the opening ODI in Thiruvananthapuram, and he has gone back to Hope for advice.
“We have spoken about giving myself some time at the start of the innings before transitioning to how I normally bat,” Andrew says. “I’m accustomed to playing one way, basically. So now it’s just about adapting. He spoke to me about that during training sessions and it’s something I really want to work on.” Reifer’s conversations with him have similarly been “mostly mental rather than physical,” which Andrew says has “calmed him down a bit.”
That also means recognising that not every innings has to look the same. Andrew uses a 30 as an example: there are days when 30 off 15 works because the team has started well and his job is to carry the momentum forward; on a slower pitch or against a stronger attack, the same contribution may need more time. “So you really have to give and take on that,” he says.
Now in India, Andrew wants to make full use of the window of opportunity that has come about with Greaves’ injury. He had already spent two weeks in Chennai with other young West Indies batters at the end of 2024, training against different types of spin on red- and black-soil pitches.
“I didn’t know I could play as many shots as I could,” Andrew says. “Being exposed to quality spinners forces you to adjust and helps develop a wider range of shots. It helps you learn about newer ways of scoring.”
Andrew has another chance to make the step from promise to performance, and at 19, he is learning that being picked young is only the beginning. He has spent most of his cricketing life getting somewhere early. Now comes the task of staying there.
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at Cricinfo. @sreshthx
