Twenty-one-year-old cricketer Ayinde Rogers died following a motor vehicle accident along the Trafalgar Public Road, West Coast Berbice, in the early hours of Monday morning.
Preliminary reports indicate the accident occurred at approximately 12:10 am on Monday when Rogers, who was driving alone, reportedly fell asleep at the wheel. Police said the vehicle veered off the roadway before crashing into a stack of building blocks and a parked tractor, leaving the car extensively mangled. Rogers succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
Rogers had celebrated his 21st birthday in May and was widely known for his passion for cricket, regarded as one of Berbice’s promising young players. He was captain of the Achievers Cricket Club Under-23 team and represented Berbice at the Under-19 level last year.
According to information gathered, Rogers had returned home after playing a cricket match at Whim, Corentyne, on Sunday, before leaving again to meet friends.
His father, Dave Rogers, said he was asleep at home when his eldest son arrived and broke the news that Ayinde had been involved in a fatal accident.
“He’s the one that come and call upon me. He call upon his stepmother, matter of fact. And I hear the crying. I thought it was my son crying. But when I come downstairs, I reach my eldest son. He said, Daddy, my brother dead, my brother dead. I couldn’t believe it,” the grieving father said.
Dave Rogers said he rushed to the scene of the accident.
“I left and I go, I see my son lying on the ground. The police told me I couldn’t go near him. I just had to turn back and come home. I still can’t believe he’s gone,” he said, describing his son as a devoted lover of cricket.
Rogers’ mother, Chermayne White, said the last conversation she had with her son was shortly after 7:00 pm on Sunday, after he messaged her asking what she had cooked.
“He asked me, ‘Mommy, what did you cook?’ I told him I made macaroni. He asked me to dish out some food and put it in a container because he was going to pick it up before going to hang out with some friends,” White said.
After receiving news of the accident, White rushed to the scene.
“When I got there, I saw him lying on the ground motionless. It was very difficult for me to even look,” she said, describing her son as kind and loving.
Ayinde Rogers is survived by his parents, two siblings, extended family members, teammates, friends and the wider cricket community, all of whom are struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss of a talented young sportsman whose life was cut tragically short.
Police investigations into the fatal accident are ongoing.
