Thomas Stands Up To Be Counted
Following his Man of the Match performance against Kenya in round 6, Windward Islands' seamer Fernix Thomas was happy with his form and looking to help his team into the semi finals of the 2004 Carib Beer series.
The Windwards stormed to an innings victory over hapless Kenya on the back of a ten wicket match haul by Thomas, on only the third day of their four day match at the Arnos Vale Playing field in St Vincent.
That victory took the Windwards to 36 points and needing only first innings points against the West Indies ?B??to advance to the playoffs, they could almost taste the semifinals. Thomas said he was looking to continue the good run and hoped that such success would push the Windwards into the final four for the first time.
?I struggled in the early part of the season but the more overs I bowled, my form just began to pick up gradually until this match and I am looking to do well against West Indies B,? he said.
Thomas captured a first class career best of 8 for 27 off 18.2 overs -- also the best figures by a Windward Islands bowler -- wrecking Kenya?s innings and seeing them bundled out for 152. He then returned to take 2 for 44 for a match return of 10 for 71, despite conditions which offered little assistance to the bowlers.
?That?s one the slowest wickets we played on for some years now, the wicket wasn?t giving much assistance," Thomas said Sunday morning at his hotel in Kingstown.
Prior to the Kenya fixture, he had taken 12 wickets at 34.16 apiece with a best of 3 for 72. The Dominican, whose previous best first class figures were 5 for 53 against Jamaica in the 2002 season, was forced to take up the leading role in the attack after Windwards? most experienced fast bowler Cameron Cuffy was ruled out of the match with an injury.
Only 23 years old, Thomas admitted that he had lifted his mental attitude on entering the game. ?I knew that I had a big task at hand, so I just went out there and put my head down. I knew I had to bowl and bowl really well,? he said.
The young fast bowler followed up his words with action in Grenada this past weekend, where he took another 5 wicket haul against the West Indies 'B' team to help his team to a 10 wicket win, seeing them through to a semifinal berth against Jamaica.
Debuting in 2001 against South Africa ?A? at Arnos Vale, Thomas' best season in regional cricket to date was 2002 when he grabbed 28 wickets by the end of the season, but with 27 wickets to his name already and at least one more game to play, he should easily better that this year.