He is often seen in the nets at Sabina Park working to improve his craft whenever there is an international team here on tour.

All those hours done and deliveries bowled by Akim Fraser eventually bore fruit, as he produced a man of the match performance to pilot University of the West Indies (UWI) to their first Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) Senior Cup title.

The young off-spinner single-handedly bowled down the formidable Melbourne CC batting line-up, made up of all national representatives, by snaring eight wickets for 95 from 35.4 overs, including five maidens.

His exploits resulted in UWI, who were contesting their first Senior Cup final, winning the title by virtue of first-innings honours, as they restricted the many-time champions to 295 after posting 299 on the first day of the entertaining, two-day, showpiece event.

“It was a tough game. We knew coming in that we were playing against a very good team and we knew that we had to play our best game to beat them.

“I was a bit nervous on the first day when we started to bowl because Melbourne got off to a flyer. But we had a meeting in the night and we regrouped and worked our plans out, which gave us some confidence coming out on the final day — and we were able to execute,” Fraser told the Jamaica Observershortly after the final at Sabina Park recently.

“Once we started making inroads into their batting line-up, I was always positive that we could win from there because I know how the game of cricket goes — one wicket generally brings two. So once we got a breakthrough we took charge from there,” he added.

It was truly an inspiring display from the 23-year-old and one that deserves every bit of recognition given his unwavering commitment and will to succeed in the sport.

The Jamaica College old boy and former Kingston Cricket Club representative bowled 35 successive overs on his way to achieving the performance of his career thus far, and one can only expect further improvement going forward.

“I am really happy to get eight wickets… it is somewhat surreal because this was a big final and everybody is here, so it feels good to perform and help bring my team victory.

“The transition has been somewhat difficult because I Ieft Kingston Cricket Club where I played in the Senior Cup final when I was in upper six, but in my first year at UWI I didn’t play much. So it was a lot of hard work, and I had to put a lot of thought into my game since I have been there (at UWI), and I think that has paid dividends in terms of my mental strength as well as being disciplined and executing plans,” the marketing major revealed.

Despite his outstanding showing, Fraser holds no high expectations that his exploits will earn him a call-up for the Jamaica Scorpions line-up. Instead he is more focused on heading back to nets to further improve his craft until his next assignment.

“We have a very good group of youngsters who are very hard-working and disciplined, and it showed against a very good team that has a number of first class and international players.

“So I am really pleased and a bit in the moment, so I don’t want go out and say anything about being a part of the Jamaican team. So, no real expectations I am just taking it in stride and see where it goes,” he ended.