Kemar Roach: 'I'm a better bowler now and it's time to reap the rewards'

Mon, Jul 6, '20

A good number of the West Indies side defending the Wisden Trophy have career-best performances against England and though statistically Kemar Roach’s lie elsewhere there is no doubt in his mind he sits among them.

The six for 48 claimed as a young tearaway quick in his second Test against Bangladesh in 2009 sits top of his figures but his personal favourite? The English evisceration in Barbados last year that set up a memorable 2-1 home series victory.

England, bouncing on from a 3-0 win in Sri Lanka, believed they had kept the hosts to a serviceable first-innings 289 after losing the toss and by most definitions they probably had. Come tea on the second day, however, this notion sat in flames, their batsmen rolled for 77 in 30.2 sorry overs.

Roach, a bowler some feared might never fulfil that early promise owing to a rebellious body, whipped his Kensington Oval home into a nostalgia-filled frenzy that afternoon, his five for four in the space of 27 balls a display of laser-like accuracy during a collectively hostile assault from West Indies’ pace battery.

Now ready to lead the attack alongside Shannon Gabriel once more, the 32-year-old Bajan has shared a desire for a repeat come Wednesday’s first Test in Southampton and stressed how important this tour is to his teammates.

“That day in Barbados is top for me,” says Roach at the team’s training base at Old Trafford. “It was the best I have ever felt; my body was healthy, the ball was coming out perfectly, I was expressing myself. There was no added pressure, just total comfort. That’s how I got the best out of myself.

Read more at The Guardian