Kittitian cricketer Akheam Fox shines in England; cracks 109 not out

The picture that captured attention, which was captured by freelance photographer George Reszeter: Akheam Fox playing one of his trademark straight drives.

BASSETERRE ST. KITTS (December 5, 2012) — A picture produced by the Abingdon Herald Newspaper in Oxford, England, on Wednesday August 22, 2012 has left many in the sporting world wondering where that genre of a player came from.

The picture, which appeared on page 68 (sports section) of the paper, featured Akheam Fox playing one of his trademark straight drives down the ground for four, splitting the bowler to his right and the mid on to his left.

Taken by freelance photographer George Reszeter, the picture was captioned: Akheam Fox made 47 in Abingdon Vale’s 225-4 against Standford St. Martin.

“Akheam who?” was the question on the lips of the bewildered cricketing fans. Since that match, the 21-year old cricketer went on to crack 109 not out in a match played against Blewberry on September 9.

In St. Kitts and Nevis, thousands of miles away from England where the match was played, one man had the answer.

“This is a shot which he perfected under the tutorage of Keith Arthurton, former West Indies batsman,” says Mr David Fox, father of player Akheam Fox. The bewildered fans in England need to be told that Akheam is a product of St. Kitts, or better still — A Kittitian.

A right-handed batsman who left the Federation in January this year for Oxford Brookes University in England, Akheam Fox’s Summer Season saw him playing for his university, and in the Cherwell and Sunday Leagues for Abingdon-Vale XI.

Firmly on the ground England, Akheam is flying the Federation’s flag high and making his country-people proud, more so his local coach Keith Arthurton, his parents and certainly his former colleagues at the Keith Arthurton Cricket Academy in Basseterre.

Akheam gained the coveted Distinction of Scoring 1000 runs per season in his first season in England, having scored 1,052 runs in 39 innings at an average of 31.87 with five (5) not out.

Akheam Fox playing his flashy cover drive which has always been described by Keith Arthurton as Akheam’s favourite cricket shot. Picture by George Reszeter.

During the 2012 Season, Akheam Fox had scores of over 50 runs in an inning on six (6) occasions: Vs. Longwick (51) 8 boundaries and 1 six; Vs. Sutton Courtenay (52) 7 boundaries; Vs. South Hampton (53) 4 boundaries; Vs. Oxen Ford (94) 10 boundaries and 1 six; Vs. Blewberry (109 not out) on September 9, when he cracked 17 boundaries while putting together his second career century, and his maiden century in England.

While on a one match tour to Ireland UK with Oxford Brookes University, Akheam top scored with 56 runs, striking 5 boundaries and 1 six to held his university to comfortably win that encounter.

Akheam is continuing his cricket development under the watchful eye of ECB level 5 coach, Graham Charlesworth, and the work done to date has shown improvements in his fielding as he effected four run outs; took nine catches and bagged 13 wickets with his medium pacers, while simultaneously showing remarkable improvement in his batting.

He is a proud product of the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis U-13 cricket competition who was created and moulded at the Keith Arthurton Cricket Centre (KACC), and was named the Federal Youth Cricketer of the Year 2010. With the 2012 season ended, he now awaits the preparation for the 2013 Summer Season.

Simultaneously, on the educational leg of his development, Akheam settled into University life at Oxford Brooks and efficiently completed the eight modules required for his first university year, for which he achieved a GPA of 4.0, with two ‘B+’ and six ‘As’.

Upon completion of his final project he received a certificate and a token gift card from his module supervisor, which indicated:

Certificate of Project Progression Award; Presented to MR. AKHEAM FOX; Congratulations on your achievement. Pathway Department, Oxford Brookes International, Oxford Brookes University. 10th of August, 2012, Oxford.

The citation ended: “For the best project among the fifty eight (58) marked by the team of tutors,” and was signed on behalf of the team of tutors by module supervisor, Mr Martin Miller.

Congratulations to Akheam D. Fox, another citizen of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, whose hard work and determination to achieve stands out as a shining example for other youngsters at home and abroad.

We wish his continued success!