Corey Collymore

Barely fast-medium, averaging in the mid-to-high 70s, Corey Collymore is a fairly accurate and aggressive, with the benefit of years of experience. His sprint to the crease is reminiscent of Malcolm Marshall's, but, unlike Marshall, his open-chested deliveries seem to limit his ability to move the ball away from the right-hander. His misfortune has been the plague of modern fast bowlers: stress fractures. Yet he is a determined man, who recovered from back injuries when critics had written him off at the end of West Indies' tour of England in 2000, and thus fulfilled his promise to be back in the game. He took four wickets on his return to the one-day side in Zimbabwe in 2001, as West Indies beat India in the final of the Coca-Cola Cup, and after a moderately successful World Cup in 2003, he was recalled to the Test team for the home series against Sri Lanka. He responded with five wickets in the drawn first Test, and a second-innings haul of 7 for 57 in the second, as West Indies sealed a seven-wicket victory.

From there on, he was shunted in and out of the squad, before being included half-way through the Test series for his experience. He shared the new ball with younger speed merchants, and though he put the ball in the right place, his inability to put fear in the hearts of batsmen meant that he was expensive and ineffective on the tour to England. Against India at home in 2006, however, Collymore pegged away all through the series, providing a valuable tourniquet at one end. He was way ahead of the other fast bowlers in terms of his economy-rate (2.33) and always appeared capable of taking a wicket. His spell on the first morning at Antigua floored India and, despite not looking fully fit, maintained his accuracy throughout. He played only eight international games in the 2006-07 season and averaged over 30 but just ahead of the selection for World Cup he rocked Jamaica with a six-for in the Carib series. He failed to carry that form into the tournament itself but still found himself briefly in the top 10 of the ICC Test rankings. In 2008, he replaced Ryan Harris at Sussex, joining the club as a Kolpak and he performed with distinction on the south coast before moving to Middlesex at the end of the 2010 season.
Vaneisa Baksh