2026 Overseas Player: Shakeem Boyce

21 Nov 2025

North East Cheshire Cricket Club - via a partnership with the Barbados Cricket Association - is delighted to welcome Shakeem Boyce on an overseas player scholarship for the 2026 UK season. The 25 year-old allrounder enjoyed an impressive 2025 Bajan domestic season, scoring 554 runs with four half-centuries. He also added 25 wickets at 20.32 apiece with his brisk medium pace, and is known for his athletic fielding.

Boyce first rose to prominence as a schoolboy, selected for the Barbados Cricket Association Centre of Excellence Program between 2012 and 2017 and earning representative honours for the island at junior level. He was also an outstanding performer in the Barbados Cricket Association Schools Division with bests of 160* not out with the bat and 7/13 with the ball.

He plays his club cricket for Isolation Cavaliers at the picturesque KMV Oval in Saint Andrew, deployed primarily as a middle-order aggressor and strike bowler. An all-round effort of 78, 34*, 2/19 and 2/33 against Wanderers this season’s 3-day competition was typical of his consistency as he finished second in both the runs and wickets charts for Cavaliers. Those runs also arrived at a strike-rate in excess of 100, showcasing his Caribbean flair with the bat.

There was also success at the top of the order in the shorter format, lighting up the BCA Twenty20 Cup with a pair of rapid half-centuries in the group phase. These included a season-best 89 from just 56 deliveries against YMPC in which he cleared the ropes on 7 occasions. He added 55 from 44 deliveries against Empire to ultimately finish the competition 8th in overall runs across the whole competition despite elimination in the group stage.

Shakeem also boasts prior UK experience with successful stints in Kent (2022) and Wiltshire (2024) under his belt. At the latter he finished the season as the division’s top wicket-taker (38 at 12.50) and broke the league record for catches, registering 17 alongside 3 run-outs. For Kent side Whitstable he hammered two half-centuries to go with his 23 wickets at 18.91, working under the tutelage of David Fulton and playing alongside England U19 star Jaydn Denley.

We look forward to welcoming Shakeem to the club in April.