He’s back.
His injury is healed, and mental scars from a recent automobile crash are now out of Kemar Roach’s way.
The fiery fast bowler made his return to cricket in Barbados last weekend, after being out of action for seven months following a shoulder injury which led to surgery, then a crash that saw his BMW sports vehicle receiving extensive damage last month.
The Barbados and West Indies pacer is now eagerly looking forward to resuming his international career in the three-match Test series against New Zealand next month.
Roach, 25, turned out for CGI Maple against BRC BCL at Blenheim in the final preliminary series of the BCA Sagicor General T20 tournament and impressed with the new ball in a winning cause.
In his pacy spell, he took one wicket for ten runs off four overs on the trot as BCL were bundled out for 77 in 20 overs – the lowest total of the series – before two-time champions Maple triumphed by eight wickets.
“I am glad to be back on the field playing for Maple and I am looking forward to representing the West Indies again as soon as possible with my focus on the Test series against New Zealand in a few weeks,” Roach said.
He is in a 20-man West Indies squad preparing for the series with a camp at the 3Ws Oval from May 22 to June 2. The first Test against the Black Caps is in Jamaica beginning June 8.
Roach, who has 85 wickets at 27.71 runs apiece in 23 Tests since his debut in 2009, said he was quite pleased with his performance last weekend.
“I hit some good areas and the pace was definitely up. I was able to contribute in a positive way. I spoke with the captain and he said he had a plan. He asked me if I wanted to bowl four overs in succession and I told him I wouldn’t mind to get the body working again. The pace is still there but I am not a hundred per cent yet. I think the more I bowl, the better I will become.
“I have really missed playing. Seven months out of cricket is a long time and now I am at the point where I can play again. I am very confident that once I get some more sessions in and some strength work, I will be raring to go for the first Test against New Zealand, if selected,” the confident pacer added.
Roach pointed out that following sessions at Kensington Oval from the middle of April with BCA coach Vasbert Drakes, as well as West Indies team coach Ottis Gibson – both former Barbados and West Indies pacers – he stepped up practice recently at Trents, the home ground of Maple, with assistance from former Barbados and West Indies fast bowler Corey Collymore, who is also a Maple player.
“I was working with Vasbert and also had some sessions with Ottis. I was in the gym earlier in the year and then the bowling aspect of it started in April. It was basic stuff as in the rotation of the arm and the fundamentals of fast bowling,” Roach explained.
The last time Roach played a competitive match was for Maple in the final of the same Sagicor General T20 tournament against Sagicor Life UWI at Kensington last October 13 when he injured his shoulder in the field.
Roach had a scare on April 19 when he sustained a head wound after his BMW crashed on a slippery road near Wanstead Drive.
“It did set me back slightly. I had to take a week-and-a-half off to get my mind straight again,” he said. (BA/PR)
