Mayers isn’t your regular hero. He isn’t the chosen one. He doesn’t have that Harry Potter scar to prove that he is the Boy Who Lived. But again, there is that one time, he literally was the man who lived. It was September 2017. Mayers was with a franchise team in Dominica for training camp. Lesser did he know that Hurricane Maria took over.
He was living in an apartment along with a roommate where the roof came off and there was flooding. The guys survived the night and the phone service went off as well.
From his own words, he had his ears blocked by the sound outside and it was terrible. The next morning, he managed to get out of the house in search of food. Luckily, he found a shop and with the little cash he had, he bought some water and food. The local officials helped too. Later, he was able to contact the franchise who helped out with Gatorade and some food.
His family back at home was trying to get in touch for a while but with no services, it was real tough. Eventually, he got in touch with them once the signal was back. He then left the contract, came back to his place where he gave it all.
He did give it all but there were times he wasn’t doing his job right. It is all out there. His performance wasn’t up to the mark both with bat and ball. He got caught in the web of an “all-rounder”, had rough years, years in confusion and there were times he never had a chance to bat.
For the man who is in and around the West Indies team since his Under-15 days in 2007/2008, he tried hard to find his niche. In the Clico International Under-15 Championships, he was supposed to be team’s main man but his current captain Brathwaite stole the show. The skipper ended with 538 runs from 8 innings better than Babar Azam, who finished second with 436 runs. In the same tournament, Liton Das had 86 runs while Mayers managed only 84 from 5 innings but took four wickets.
Mayers then kept juggling between the ball and the bat, made it to the Under-19 team in 2012. Here, his role was to keep things tight with the ball and whatever he can add with the bat is just surplus. That was his role. To bowl tight. Yes.
In the Group C match, India made 166 runs after being asked to bat first. Smit Patel was the lone warrior for the Indian team that were dominated by some good bowling where Mayers picked up two wickets. The Indian skipper Chand told that it wasn’t an easy condition to bat on
In return, Harmeet Singh led the Indian attack and pushed the team in danger by grabbing three wickets. In the end, Mayers took the team home with 43 from 54 deliveries, batted as if he was playing on a different surface, had 4 fours and a six.
In the tournament, he made 116 from 5 innings and was the leading wicket-taker for his team with 12 wickets to his name. His skipper Brathwaite was the leading run-scorer for West Indies in the tournament with 213 runs to his name. The top scorer in that edition was Bangladesh’s Anamul Haque who recently featured for Gemcon Khulna. Once again Babar Azam was there, as the 2nd top scorer with 287 runs.
Mayers once again was all over the place. He played for different franchises and was a regular member of Combined Campuses and Colleges since his teen. In both 2013/2014, 2014/2015 season of Regional Super50 Tournament, he played four matches combined and had six wickets with one four-wicket haul. It was 2015/2016 season where he began to make heads turn. He made a shift to the Windward Islands where he ended up playing seven matches, had 9 wickets and made 133 runs with 55*.
He soon made his first-class debut in 2015 but never really performed consistently to make people take notice of him. However, in the Regional Super50 Tournament, he continued to improve and impress. In 2016/2017 season he had 14 wickets and 171 runs and followed it up with 13 wickets and 207 runs.
2019/2020 was his best season when it comes to the First-class season. He made 654 runs with an average of 50.30. Probably, changing the team worked well for him again. Till that season, Mayers appeared for the Windward Islands and had the fifties to his name but couldn’t convert them to a triple-figure score.
In that season, he made a shift to Barbados Pride, and in the first match, he rose to the occasion. Probably, playing under Brathwaite brings the best out of him. Well, we never know.
After getting to his 1st list-A ton in the same season, in the first-ever appearance for the team in FC, Mayers entered the field when the team’s score read 36 for 5 against his former team the Windward Islands. After slowly adding a tiny partnership with Greaves, Mayers took the team to 74 for 7. Soon, he combined with Warrican to add 114-run partnership, went on to score his 1st First-class ton. He had 6 fours and 4 sixes for his 106. He even brought his ton with a six. Unfortunately, the team had lost the match.
That, in a way, would have angered Mayers that he took down the team in the 2nd appearance in the tournament. There, he brought his 2nd FC ton, 140, and then went on to score 62* in the 2nd innings.
He soon made it to the reserve players’ list but didn’t get an opportunity to perform, blame his poor outings in the practice matches.
CPL 2020 did all the magic for Mayers. He made 222 runs with an average close to 25 and a strike-rate of 111.56. However, there was this particular knock against Jamaica that made people take notice. Mayers made 85 from 59 deliveries, his 1st T20 fifty, where he took on Carlos Brathwaite for 29 runs in one over. The knock had eight sixes. He was averaging just 14.77 in his career before that match.
All these years, he was batting lower down the order and rarely had an opportunity to make a mark with bat. In this year’s CPL, he was recovering from Shoulder Injury and thus was asked to bat in the top-order.
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22nd April 2011. West Indies Under-19 team took on Australia Under-19 team in a tour match. The team batted first and was soon reduced to 19 for 3. Mayers witnessed the wickets fall around him but the lower-order made sure to keep the team in the hunt. Mayers stood tall that day, scoring 98* from 100 deliveries. He wasn’t really trying to get to the triple-figure mark and all he wanted was to put the team in a good position to win against Australia. Once again, Brathwaite was his leader.
10 years later, the same Mayers, in a better position now, a doting dad, was the magnet to the miracle on Day 5 against Bangladesh. It was his debut and there was some luck too. Two decisions. A drop-catch but it was Mayers’ day.
Mayers attacked. Bonner kept things quiet. There was a role reversal in the middle but Mayers was in charge of everything. Bangladesh should blame themselves, especially the spinners. They weren’t bowling full and after lunch, they were a bit defensive when it came to the fielding.
The team had a good chance when Mayers had trouble when he reached his 90. He took 30-odd deliveries to get to his ton and he got there with an outside edge that went through the slip and the gully. Soon, he became a bit nervous, wanted to take on Rahman. There were lofted shots which didn’t find the fielder. He did totally lose it in the middle. Probably, the skipper Brathwaite had a message for him from the dressing room, and for the next 150-odd deliveries, Mayers batted with composure right till that quick single through the mid-on when there were only 15 deliveries left in the whole Test.
Now, can Mayers repeat this? That’s for the future. Today, he has done it. Let’s live for today.
