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Collymore provides right advice for Edwards

Corey Collymore was Fidel Edwards' secret weapon as he returned to the Test scene with three important wickets

Cricinfo staff
03-Apr-2008

Fidel Edwards captured 3 for 50 on his return to the Test team in Trinidad © AFP
 
Corey Collymore, a bowler currently out of the West Indies squad, was Fidel Edwards' secret weapon as he returned to the Test scene with three important wickets on the opening day of the deciding match with Sri Lanka. Edwards made the initial blows after the home side picked an all-pace attack, but the visitors recovered from 117 for 5 through an unbeaten 100-run partnership between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chamara Silva.
"I got a bit more focussed," Edwards said. "Corey has been telling me that I need to be a bit more patient on this wicket and let the ball do the talking."
Injuries and inconsistent form have limited Edwards to 31 Tests and he came back into the squad after missing the opening loss in Guyana. He said being out of the team gave him time to reflect on advice from Collymore, who has not played an international match since last year's tour of England.
"We don't live too far apart and we're always talking," Edwards said. "If we don't talk in person, we talk on the phone and he has been talking to me a lot. He helped me a lot throughout the years."
Edwards used the tips on the way to picking up 3 for 50 in 12.3 overs, including the valuable wicket of Kumar Sangakkara for 10. "I thought the first spell was okay, I got the ball in the right areas most of the time," he said. "It was swinging for me, it was overcast conditions."
He collected both openers before Jerome Taylor chipped in with a couple of wickets, but the bowlers' task was made harder when the ball became wet after a series of rain breaks. "The ball has been going through to the keeper pretty nice and it has been seaming a bit," he said. "The pitch has a lot of grass on it, hopefully it can get hard. It is not as fast as I thought it would be, but as the sun comes on it hopefully it can get hard."