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| February 6, 2003 | Thursday | Zul Hijjah 4,1423 |
Pen-sketches of West Indies World Cup squad
ST JOHN’S (Antigua), Feb 5: Following are the pen-sketches of West Indies World Cup squad:
CARL HOOPER
Born: Dec 15 1966. Captain. Right-hand batsman, useful off-spinner. ODI debut: v New Zealand, Dunedin, March 1987. 5,663 runs at 35.84, 7 hundreds. Also 190 wickets at 35.74. A huge talent who should have achieved more, yet still the only player ever to score 5,000 runs and take 100 wickets in both forms of the game. Mysteriously quit the sport for almost two years before splitting West Indies cricket by returning as captain. Complex character. Graceful batsman, fine player of pace and spin but often criticised for throwing away his wicket. Missed 1996 World Cup. Sacked along with Brian Lara in 1998, then reinstated, after pay rebellion before tour to South Africa. Quit international game in April following year during ODI series v Australia. Missed 1999 World Cup. Handed captaincy in 2001 after sacking of Jimmy Adams after 5-0 defeat by Australia.
RIDLEY JACOBS
Born: Nov 26 1967. Vice-captain. Wicket-keeper, left-handed batsman. ODI debut: v New Zealand, Kingston, 1996. 112 ODIs, 1,645 runs, av 23.50. Late developer. Shares the world record for dismissals in an ODI innings. Hard-hitting batsman who goes for his shots. First selected for ODIs aged 29 but exiled for two years after four matches. Made Test debut on 31st birthday. Used as an opener in 1999 World Cup, when carried his bat for 49 not out in total of 110 against Australia at Old Trafford.
SHIVNARINE CHANDERPAUL
Born: Aug 18 1974. Left-handed batsman, occasional right-arm leg-spinner. ODI debut: v India, October 1994. 126 matches, av 36.44, three centuries. Bats more like an Englishman than a West Indian. Injury-plagued career. Compact, cautious player, in contrast to the West Indian stereotype. His ability to rotate the strike, however, made him a valuable one-day anchor. Has been used as an opener. Scored 80 in dramatic 1996 World Cup semifinal defeat by Australia as WI lost by five runs at Mohali. Blighted by a shoulder problem in 1999, foot stress fracture, and elbow tendon injury the next year.
COREY COLLYMORE
Born: Dec 21 1977. Right-arm fast-medium bowler. ODI debut: v India, Toronto, Sept 1999. 31 matches, 38 wkts at 29.18. Began career as a quick but dogged by stress fractures of the back, the same injury to wreck Ian Bishop’s career. Set to make first-class debut in 1997, hit by back stress fracture. Had same problem in 1999. One major career highlight came with best ODI performance in Dec 2001, taking 5-51 v Sri Lanka. Hit for 41 off 5.4 overs, he then took 5-10 off 22 balls.
PEDRO COLLINS
Born: Aug 12 1976. Left-arm fast-medium bowler. ODI debut: v Pakistan, Sharjah, Oct 1999. 20 matches, 28 wkts at 28.39. On Test debut first three wickets were Michael Slater, Matthew Elliott and Steve Waugh. Other claim to fame was to dismiss Sachin Tendulkar three times in three matches in a home Test series v India in early 2002, including 2nd ball in Barbados and 1st ball in Antigua.
MERVYN DILLON
Born: July 5 1974. Right-arm fast bowler. ODI debut: v South Africa, Lahore, Nov 1997. 74 matches, 99 wkts, av 29.21. The spearhead of the attack. Needs one wicket to reach 100 in ODI, a mark he has already passed in Tests. Has big shoes to fill, beginning his career as as a back-up for Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. Tall, generating sharp bounce. Struggled to establish himself as a Test player, with seven games in two years before being ignored for 21 months between early 1999 and late 2000. Continued to play ODIs, though.
VASBERT DRAKES
Born: Aug 5 1969. Right-arm fast bowler, aggressive lower-order batsman. ODI debut: v Australia, Bridgetown, March 1995. 17 matches, 26 wkts at 25.65. West Indies’ Mr Invisible — Returned to international cricket after seven-and-a-half-year break. Started career in 1995 with five ODIs, three wickets and two innings v Australia. Did not return until 2002 Champions Trophy. During intervening period, played county cricket for Nottinghamshire, Sussex and Warwickshire (where he replaced Allan Donald) in England and for Border in South Africa.
CHRIS GAYLE
Born: Sept 21 1979. Left-handed opening batsman, useful off-break bowler, good slip fielder. ODI debut: v India, Toronto, Sept 1999. 62 matches, 2,150 runs at 36.44, four centuries and 14 fifties, 51 wkts at 29.03. West Indies’ new batting hope, said to hit the ball as hard as Clive Lloyd did in winning the first two World Cups. Tall, powerful striker of the ball. Made first-ball duck on Test debut v Zimbabwe and a single from eight balls v India on ODI debut. Followed up with maiden ODI century, 152 off 150 balls, against Kenya in Aug and a scoring sequence of 103, 72, 140, 101 in West Indies fine 4-3 ODI win in India.
RYAN HINDS
Born: Feb 17 1981. Fluent left-handed middle order batsman, slow left-arm bowler and fine fielder. Late replacement for the injured Marlon Samuels. ODI debut: v Zimbabwe, Kandy, 2001. 11 matches, 93 runs, av 18.60. 6 wkts, av 52.33. Struck the winning runs in his ODI debut and made 62 on Test debut against Pakistan in Sharjah, 2002.
WAVELL HINDS
Born: Sept 7 1976. Left-handed opening batsman, occasional seam bowler. ODI debut: v India, Singapore, 1999. 64 matches, 1,558 runs, av 26.75, 1 century.Grabbed one of the last remaining World Cup squad slots after being converted into an opener. Yet to fully establish himself, despite hitting 165 and 52 v Pakistan at Bridgetown in May 2000 in his fourth Test.
BRIAN LARA
Born: May 2 1969. Left-handed batsman. ODI debut: v Pakistan, Karachi, Nov 1990. 203 matches, 7,549 runs at 42.64. 15 centuries. Holder of world record for highest score in Tests and first-class matches. Short man, complicated character, one of the most exciting players in the world. High backlift. Father Bunty died before seeing him play a Test. World Test record 375 in 5th Test v England, St John’s, May 1994. Then world first-class record 501 not out for Warwickshire v Durham at Edgbaston, June 1994. Named West Indies captain in 1998. Sacked then reinstated during players’ revolt over pay before start of tour to South Africa. Resigned in 2000, then took a break for four months. Scored century in ICC Champions Trophy v Kenya at Colombo, then collapsed with mystery illness.
JERMAINE LAWSON
Born: Jan 13 1982. Right-arm fast-medium bowler. ODI debut: v Sri Lanka, Colombo, Dec 2001. 5 matches, 7 wkts, av 28.71. Not much more than an international novice but already can boast one of the most devastating bowling spells of all time. On Test debut dismissed Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. In December, aged 20, took six wickets in 15 deliveries without conceding a run, three of them in four balls, final figures of 6.5-4-3-6.
NIXON McLEAN
Born: July 20 1973. Right-arm fast-medium bowler. ODI debut: v Australia, Melbourne, Dec 1996. 44 matches, 46 wkts at 36.76. Named after US president (Richard Nixon), Russia prime minister (Alexei Kosygin) and World Bank chief (Robert McNamara) in 1973. Experienced in South African conditions but not played any international cricket for more than a year-and-a-half. Did not bowl a ball during an extraordinary ODI debut, all because of an unpredictable pitch. England’s batsmen were hit seven times and reduced to 17-3 after 10.1 overs before match was abandoned.
RICARDO POWELL
Born: Dec 16 1978. Right-handed batsman, occasional off-spinner. ODI debut: v Pakistan, Bristol, May 1999 (World Cup). 58 matches, 1,248 runs, av 26.00, one century. Hailed as a prodigy four years ago, has done little since. Aged 20, last-minute inclusion into 1999 World Cup squad after shock retirement of Carl Hooper.
RAMNARESH SARWAN
Born: June 23 1980. Right-handed batsman. ODI debut: v England, Trent Bridge, July 2000. 29 matches, 1,072 runs, av 51.04, one century and five fifties. A fine technician, highly dependable, at last recorded his maiden hundred just before the World Cup. Short, textbook batsman. West Indies debut aged 19. Averaged 109 in one-day series v India at the end of 2002 without reaching three figures but in December finally made breakthrough with maiden hundreds in both forms of cricket against Bangladesh. Test ton came in 48th innings, ODI ton in 26th innings.—Reuters
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