The entire cricketing world stood up yesterday and gave Kemar Roach a standing ovation.
The fast bowing legend stood tall as he reached the phenomenal milestone of 300 wickets in Test cricket for the West Indies. The magical moment came in the afternoon session of play when he produced a magnificent yorker-length delivery to clean bowl Sri Lanka tail-ender Asitha Fernando for a “duck”.
It was an early gift for Roach who celebrates his 38th birthday tomorrow.
Roach didn’t break out in wild celebrations but rather, he looked pleased and relieved that he reached the coveted landmark. He was immediately mobbed by teammates who joined to mark the moment in history. He ended the innings with four wickets for 51 runs which went on to help West Indies to record a massive victory by an innings and 217 runs on the fourth day of the first Test at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.
The delivery to dismiss Fernando was the most significant ball of his illustrious career – where he has sent down 15 544 since his debut in St Vincent 17 years ago. He joined the elite of West Indies greats with 300 wickets – the others are Courtney Walsh (519), Sir Curtly Ambrose (405), Malcolm Marshall (376) and Lance Gibbs (309 wickets).
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