Dominic Drakes

His father Vasbert a right-arm quick, left-armer Dominic Drakes had fast bowling in his blood. Lanky and with a short run-up, Drakes turned out to be effective with his change-ups and slower deliveries in the shorter formats.

But when Chris Gayle decided to promote Drakes up to No. 6 in the CPL final in Basseterre in 2021, he bashed a match-winning 48 at a strike rate of 200 for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, with his father nervously watching from Barbados.

Drakes graduated from Barbados Under-19s to the senior Barbados side, for whom he made his first-class and List A debuts just days apart in early 2018. Ten wickets in his first seven List A matches meant he was selected to play in the A team tri-series in England, which also involved India, in mid-2018.

That was a year in which Drakes was a part of Cricket West Indies' fast-bowling camp too, with his T20 debut coming for Barbados Tridents in the CPL later in 2018. He switched over to Patriots in 2019, even as his CPL appearances were restricted to a handful of games till the next edition.

But come 2021, Drakes was Patriots' highest wicket-taker with 16, apart from smashing 102 runs at a strike rate of 161.90. Chennai Super Kings then decided to rope him in as an injury replacement for the second half of IPL 2021. Although his IPL debut didn't come, he went to Pakistan to make his T20I debut for West Indies later that year.

And like most of his West Indies compatriots, Drakes soon took off for stints in the T20 Blast, LPL and ILT20, even as he played his first ODI in June 2023.