From Bipin Dani
Mumbai - The guest at the Toss ceremony during West Indies-Pakistan second ODI at St. Lucia on Monday proved lucky for visiting captain Shahid Afridi for he not only won the toss but the match also, thus leading the five ODI series with 2-0.
"16 year old St. Lucian Edwin Charles was the lucky youngster who joined West Indies and Pakistan Captains Darren Sammy and Shahid Afridi for the coin toss in the 2nd Digicel ODI at Beausejour, St. Lucia. Charles’ inclusion in the toss continues Digicel’s tradition of bringing West Indies fans closer to the game throughout the Digicel Series", Gillian Power, the Group PR Executive, said from the Island.
"Yes, Edwin was given some words of enccouragement by Windies captain Sammy and had the honour of meeting Mr Afridi too", she added. "Edwin is an aspiring young cricketer from St. Lucia. He would have interacted more with both captains, however we don't capture that conversation. Predominantly he was there for the toss and then he joined the rest of the fans in the stands".
"The practice of sending somebody at the toss is in existance since last four years. The children are chosen from either Digicel's Grass Roots Programme which reaches 2600 children across the Caribbean, or, as Digicel is a sponsor of many Special Olympic Associations, some of the people are chosen from these programmes. On other occasions the young cricketers are picked by the Cricket Association in the country", she further added.
Later, while speaking exclusively, the school going Edwin Charles said, "It was my first experience to go for the toss with the international captains and I felt really good. I was so scared but happy that I could not have longer conversation with them".
Yasmine Chelsee St. Ange was given the privilege of joining at the toss in the first ODI, where captain Afridi lost the toss but not the match. "St. Ange is the reigning "Junior Female Cricketer of the Year" andalso won the title in 2007. Digicel has made a tradition of selectingunique people in each country to join the West Indies Captain for thecoin toss for each match", Ms. Power signed off.
