Collins `sharp'

Pedro Collins is stunned by his sudden call-up to the West Indies team as one of the replacements for the injured Cameron Cuffy and Mervyn Dillon.

But the Barbadian left-arm fast bowler left for Zimbabwe yesterday pronouncing himself 100 per cent fit after a long lay-off because of a back injury that kept him out of first-class cricket for more than a year.

It came as a shock to me. I was surprised, Collins said when he learnt of his international recall through a telephone call from West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) executive secretary Andrew Sealy on Tuesday morning.

It was something that I was looking forward to, but I didn't expect it to come so quickly. Now that I have got the chance, I am going to grasp the opportunity and put my best foot forward.

Collins' reaction was probably shared by the vast majority of cricket fans around the region. After all, the 24-year-old has not played a first-class match since February last year and had not been asked to prove his form or fitness before joining the West Indies team which has been afflicted by injuries in the last fortnight.

Collins, whose stretched back muscles sidelined him for the 2000 Red Stripe Bowl and the 2001 Busta Cup, however, reckons he is in top shape after a lengthy recuperation that involved sessions with Dr Llewellyn Harper.

The injuries haven't come back. They haven't given me any trouble. I think I am fully recovered, said the Boscobelle, St Peter resident who was preparing to go to work at the Community Development Department when he was told of his call-up.

I have just got to put it together in the middle now.

Collins has had limited cricket during the current domestic season, having played in only two of Wanderers' five matches in the preliminaries of the Barbados Fire & Commercial Cup competition. Prior to the start of the season he attended a week-long WICB fast bowling clinic in Antigua, under the supervision of former West Indies pacer Andy Roberts.

It was really hard and tough, Collins said about the clinic. The first couple of days were hard and the body was a bit stiff, but as we went on, you got familiar with the exercises and your body got accustomed to it.

His training with Roberts involved working on the landing of his feet, the development of his inswinger to right-handed batsmen and getting more side-on when delivering.

There was no need to make any significant adjustments to his action, he said.

Since the clinic, I haven't stopped training. I've still been working out very hard.

Collins last represented the West Indies in two One-Day Internationals on the 1999-2000 tour of New Zealand.