Barbadian Bowler The Pick Of South African Town (6 December 1998)

6 December 1998

Barbadian Bowler The Pick Of South African Town

By Tony Cozier

EAST LONDON - According to one Johannesburg paper last weekend, the best West Indian bowler in South Africa at present is not to be found in Brian Lara's team but rather in this dreamy seaside town doing his stuff for Border.

Simple statistics support the claim. Vasbert Drakes, the 29-year-old Barbadian in his third season with the provincial team, heads the national first-class averages with 29 wickets in four matches at the miserly cost of just over 11 runs each and Border are surprise leaders of the Supersport Series.

There is, of course, one good reason why Drakes is not in the West Indies team, quite apart from the fact that the selectors rejected him after his call-up as Winston Benjamin's replacement on the 1995 tour of England.

Since then, he has mostly been in South Africa pursuing his profession, rather than in the Caribbean presenting his claims to the West Indies selectors as is stipulated by the West Indies Board.

So the question is obvious. Is he tempted to return home in an effort to revive an international career so far confined to five One-Day Internationals against Australia in the Caribbean in 1995?

"I've thought about it but, at this moment, it would be a calculated risk," he said yesterday as he watched his fellow West Indians, many of them recent teammates, getting in some match practice against Border prior to the start of the second Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

"I'm going to fulfill my contract with Border and weigh up my options at the end of the season come March," he added. "I'll talk to a couple of guys and see what sort of information I can gather and basically take it from there."

With his useful batting that merits a first-class average of 21 and three hundreds to supplement his bowling, the time for Drakes to make his move would appear to be now.

If nowhere else, his all-round qualities would be appreciated in next season's World Cup in England.

But Drakes has had enough experience of selectorial fickleness not to take that "calculated risk".

Instead, he is likely to play out his days on the fields of South Africa where he is developing the kind of elevated reputation enjoyed during his years with Free State by another Barbadian West Indies reject, Franklyn Stephenson.

It is a prospect he is perfectly comfortable with.

He makes a sad, but realistic, comparison between the game in South Africa and that in the Caribbean because he knows the gap in infrastructure and preparation is certain to be reflected on the field.

"The infrastructure here is far superior to what we have back home and that makes a big difference," he said.

"We have proper practice facilities, we have video cameras, you have all the help you need in the way you prepare for the game.

"They're also very disciplined and very committed to their game," he noted.

"Before this season, everyone at Border was set a level of fitness we had to achieve.

"If we didn't reach it, we didn't play, no matter who you were, simple as that. One of our best bowlers last season was Dion Taljard, who took 22 wickets, but he didn't work hard enough, didn't reach the level and he hasn't yet played this season."

Drakes credits his performance this season to that kind of regimen, to the fact that he came here "fresher and stronger" than he had done over the previous two seasons and to a new coach.

"We don't have any real stars in the Border team but the guys work as a unit rather than individuals," he said. "They know their strengths and weaknesses and stick to their game."

In 1996 and 1997, he came to South Africa virtually straight from two long seasons of county cricket with Sussex. This year, his pro contract in England was with the Central Lancashire league club, Todmorden, and confined to weekend matches.

And then there is the influence of Richard Pybus, a coach who played no first-class cricket but who, according to Drakes, "has a good knowledge of the game and can pass it on to the players".

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)