Collymore counts down

In two weeks Corey Collymore will be fit to resume his cricket career.

Speaking to Nationsport yesterday, the 21-year-old fast bowler, who burst onto the scene in the Busta Cup earlier this year, said confidently that by month-end he would be able to run in and bowl as fast as before.

Basically, I should be ready to play again by the end of the month, he said. By then my back should be strong enough, but I wont push it in Division 1. Ill just take part in the (Busta Cup) trials.

Collymore withdrew from cricket in September when he suffered a back injury on the West Indies tour to Canada, where he made his One-Day International debut.

The first trial match for next years first-class season starts on November 29 and continues on December 1, 2, 3.

Collymore set tongues wagging in this years Busta Cup with 29 wickets in five matches as he had his first taste of the senior level. He was rewarded with a Test berth in the final match against Australia in Antigua.

Two years earlier he had been selected for the national team, but was set back by injury which required a long recovery period.

I will be ready for the Busta Cup, he said. I have been doing routine training - a gym programme five days a week with mainly strengthening exercises.

I plan to be back in the Barbados team and from there press for a place in the series against Zimbabwe and Pakistan (March to May) and then the tour to England (in the summer).

Although he was forced to miss the recent Red Stripe Bowl and the upcoming Test and One-Day series in New Zealand, Collymore said he was not too disappointed because the injury needed time to heal.

There is nothing to really be disappointed about because I know Im not ready, he said. My aim is to get fit again and be ready when the time comes.

While he has been resting, however, he has been made an appearance before the television cameras. He was part of a team, which included fellow West Indies players Daren Ganga, Merv Dillon and Ricardo Powell, who filmed a Pepsi GenerationNext advertisement for the West Indies Cricket Board in Venezuela recently.