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Teenager Antonio shoots down the big guns

Willow Cuts seam bowler Antonio Darrell

Antonio Darrell is the latest bowling sensation to roll off the assembly line at Willow Cuts.The teenage seam bowler again demonstrated his enormous potential by returning career-best figures of four for 18 to guide Cuts to a stunning four-wicket win over defending Premier 50-Over champs St David’s at Somerset Cricket Club at the weekend.Darrell, 15, claimed the prized scalps of Chris Foggo, Clay Smith, Loren Marshall and Del Hollis off just 6.3 overs, bowling unchanged from the northern end of the ground.The Berkeley Institute student said he was able to exploit the uneven bounce on offer at Somerset.“The ball was staying pretty low at times and other times it was coming up quite a bit and I was able to exploit the conditions,” he said. “I was moving it a little bit but not too much.”The highlight of Darrell’s performance arrived when he bowled former national team skipper Smith for a duck.“I was very proud of myself and I think Clay was the biggest wicket,” he said. “I was a little nervous bowling to him because he has a lot of experience in cricket.”Darrell admitted he also had butterflies going into the match against a quality team like St David’s.“I was a little nervous facing St David’s knowing they have good players,” he said. “My expectations were to stay focused on bowling and achieving what I needed to do for my team by bowling out the St David’s players.“I was just trying to stay positive the whole game and not get distracted or anything like that.”Darrell is surrounded at Cuts by experienced players such as Dexter Basden who has had a profound influence on the promising bowler.“It actually makes me feel good to know I am playing with experienced players,” he said. “It helps to bring my game up each time I play knowing the game much better and focusing on how players bat and bowl and different things like that.“I really enjoy playing at Willow Cuts because it feels like a family there. I have been playing there for about three or four years and I feel very comfortable playing around the players there.”Like many youngsters his age, Darrell has ambitions of reaching his full potential in the sport.“My goal is to go away and play cricket and learn more about the game,” he said. “I actually want to go to school in England.”Darrell, who also plays Junior Eastern Counties with Bailey’s Bay, also harbours a dream of playing Cup Match for Somerset.“I look forward to playing Cup Match like in the next two years,” he said. “I want to play for Somerset because I have always had a dream of playing for them since I was young.”Having made a winning start to the 2012 Premier 50 Over campaign, Darrell, who is a big fan of Indian star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, sees no reason why the Western Counties champs can’t go on to bigger and better things this season.“I think we can build on Sunday’s inspiring result against St David’s as long as we stay focused,” he said.Cuts are among the foursome that will bid for Belco Cup supremacy this weekend.The West Enders will face St David’s in this Saturday’s semi -final at Lords while Bailey’s Bay take on Devonshire in the other semi -final at Somerset Cricket Club.The eventual winners of Saturday’s semi-finals will do battle in Sunday’s final at Lords.Play begins at 11am each day.