Taylor looks for further success

Jerome Taylor, the West Indies fast bowler, has set his sights on carrying his side's bowling during the one-day international series against Zimbabwe and India over the next few weeks. With consecutive Man-of-the-Match awards in the first two matches against Zimbabwe at the Antigua Recreation Ground, he has made the right start.

"The secret is that I am just going to keep it simple, but I am not surprised by my success so far because once you reach this level of the game, you can expect anything to happen and I am prepared for it," Taylor told AFP. "It's about doing the basics and doing them right in a most efficient manner and consistently. Although I am also looking forward to the Tests against India, I can't think about them right now. I'll take it one day at a time and try to get through the limited-overs internationals first."

A host of injuries have seen Taylor, 21, play just four Tests and six ODIs since making his international debut in June 2003. A career-threatening back injury has twice sidelined him, and on the recent tour of New Zealand he sat out the latter stages with a hamstring injury. Taylor admitted that to come back from such injuries was a big challenge. "You have to be able to put them behind you and come out ready to play. You have to be able to free your mind of it all, and go out there and give it your best," he said. "The start-stop nature of my career has been somewhat frustrating for me, but to be honest, you cannot prevent injuries. You can only minimise the chances getting them."

One result of his back injury was a slight adjustment to his bowling action to minimise further damage. "After I struggled with the back injury, they found out I had a bit of a mixed action and I had to change it in a certain way," Taylor said. "It wasn't too much of a change and it's working pretty much now. Hopefully, I can continue through the home series without injuries. This is another one of my goals."

Taylor played down his 2 for 19 and 4 for 32 over the weekend when he acknowledged the strength of the touring Zimbabweans. "I'll have to admit that it's a B-ranked side, but we can't take them lightly though," he said. "Once we go out there, we have to play hard and get our acts together for tougher opposition because West Indies are not playing the best cricket that we know we can right now."