Kemar Andre Jamal Roach (born 30 June 1988) is a
Barbadian international
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er who plays for the West Indies. He played in the
2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup
The 2006 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was played in Sri Lanka from 2 to 15 February 2006.
The final was played between Pakistan and India in Colombo, which Pakistan won by 38 runs, enabling them to become the first back-to-back champions of th ...
in
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
and has represented the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
in
Test
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
and
One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
cricket.
Roach made his Test debut in 2009 against Bangladesh when the West Indies team was weakened due to a player strike, and impressed with his bowling so that he was given an opportunity to play when the team returned to its full strength. A fast bowler, Roach is capable of express speeds and has reached on a number of occasions, and was the 7th fastest active bowler as of 3 January 2015. In 2012 he became the first West Indies bowler to take 10 wickets in a Test since 2005.
International career
Early representation
On 7 June 2008, Roach was selected in the West Indies
Test
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
squad to face
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in the third Test. At the time he had played in only four
first-class matches. He was not picked for the final team and said "I know that when a Test match comes around, they sometimes draft in players in the island where the match is, but I wasn't expecting to be in the squad. I'm quite happy to be there. If selected, I want to put in a good performance". Roach made his international debut on 20 June 2008 in a Twenty20 international against Australia; it was also the first senior Twenty20 match he had played in.
He finished with the best bowling figures in the match of 2/29 from three overs, claiming the scalps of
Shaun Marsh and
Luke Ronchi
Luke Ronchi ( ; born 23 April 1981) is a New Zealand-Australian cricket coach and a former cricketer. He represented both the Australia national cricket team and New Zealand national cricket team in international cricket. Ronchi is the only play ...
as the West Indies won by seven wickets.
Roach was drafted into the squad for the last two ODIs against Australia in July 2008 after Australia won the first three games and sealed a series victory.
Roach did not play in the last two matches of the series against Australia and had to wait until the triangular series with
Bermuda
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and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
to make his debut. On 20 August 2008 Roach – along with fellow debutants
Leon Johnson and
Brendan Nash
Brendan Paul Nash (born 14 December 1977) is a Jamaican Australian former professional cricketer who played Test and One Day International cricket for West Indies. He played first-class cricket for Jamaica, Queensland and Kent.
Early life
Bre ...
– made his first appearance for the West Indies in a One Day International. He finished with figures of 10–1–29–2 as the West Indies beat Bermuda by six wickets. His first wicket was that of
Steven Outerbridge
Steven Devonne Outerbridge (born 20 May 1983) is a Bermudian cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break bowler. He has played for Bermuda in seven One Day Internationals to date, making his debut at this level against Canada ...
and his second was the Bermuda captain,
Irving Romaine
Irving Howard Romaine (born 8 August 1972), previously incorrectly known as Irvine Romaine, is a Bermudian cricketer, who played with the Bermudian cricket team in their first ever One Day International when they played Canada on 17 May 2006. ...
. He played in the second match of the series, taking 1/49 from eight overs against Canada as the West Indies won by 49 runs but did not play in the final against Canada which the West Indies won.
On 1 November 2008, the ODI squad to tour Pakistan was announced, with Roach as one of the members.
John Dyson, the West Indies coach, said that Roach was expected to put the more experienced and established bowlers such as
Fidel Edwards
Fidel Henderson Edwards (born 6 February 1982) is a Barbadian cricketer, who plays all formats of the game. A pace bowler, his round-arm action is "not unlike" that of former fast bowler Jeff Thomson. He was spotted in the nets by Brian Lara and ...
and
Jerome Taylor
Jerome Everton Taylor (born 22 June 1984) is a Jamaican cricketer who has played as a fast bowler for the West Indies. Taylor eventually picked up 100 wickets for the Windies in both tests and odis. During 2017 he reversed an initial decision t ...
under pressure for a place in the team.
On the same day, it was announced that Roach was one of four players – along with
Lionel Baker
Lionel Sionne Baker (born 6 September 1984) is a West Indian former cricketer who has played first-class cricket for the Leeward Islands. He is the first person from Montserrat to have represented the West Indies at Test cricket.
Personal life
...
, Leon Johnson, and Brendan Nash – without a Test cap to be named in the 15-man squad selected to tour
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
for a
Test series.
Breakthrough
Roach made his Test debut on 9 July 2009. He was part of an understrength team fielded by the West Indies against Bangladesh; in the 15-man squad, there were nine uncapped players and in the Test seven West Indies players made their debut. The side was captained by
Floyd Reifer
Floyd Lamonte Reifer (born 23 July 1972) is a Barbadian cricketer and politician. He is a left-handed middle-order batsman and a right-arm medium pace bowler.
Reifer has played six Tests and eight One Day Internationals for the West Indies ...
who had played the last of his four Tests ten years earlier. The first XI had made themselves unavailable due to a pay dispute with the
West Indies Cricket Board
Cricket West Indies (CWI) is the governing body for cricket in the West Indies (a sporting confederation of over a dozen mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries and dependencies that once formed the British West Indies). It was originally ...
. His first Test wicket was that of
all-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...
Shakib Al Hasan. Although Bangladesh won by 95 runs, Roach helped put pressure on the Bangladesh batsmen through a combination of yorkers and swinging deliveries, although he bowled slightly wide to the left-handers. Reifer praised Roach's efforts, saying "The first time I saw him as an under-19 bowler, I always thought he was going to play for West Indies. He does a lot, especially with the old ball, getting it to move in and out and he performed very well this morning, bowling decent lengths and lines". Although Bangladesh won the second Test to take the series 2–0, Roach again bowled with pace and aggression, unsettling the Bangladesh batsmen. Varying his length and exploiting the Bangladesh batsmen's weakness against short bowling – even hitting
Raqibul Hasan on the elbow with one delivery – Roach proceeded to take career-best figures of 6/48 in the first innings. With 13 wickets to his name, Roach finished as West Indies' leading wicket-taker from the series. Although Bangladesh won the three-match ODI series that followed 3–0, Roach was leading wicket-taker for the series, with 10 wickets at an average of 16.20; in the first of the ODIs he took his maiden five-wicket haul in one day matches (5/44), beating his previous best figures of 2/29. In the second ODI, Roach was fined 10% of his match fee for bowling two
beamers
In cricket, a beamer (less commonly beam ball) is a type of delivery in which the ball, without bouncing, passes above the batsman's waist height. This kind of delivery is dangerous, as a batter will be expecting the ball to bounce on the pitch. ...
. The core of the same squad was retained for September's
2009 ICC Champions Trophy
The 2009 ICC Champions Trophy was a One Day International cricket tournament held in South Africa between 22 September and 5 October, at Wanderers Stadium and Centurion Park, both in the Gauteng province. Originally, the tournament was scheduled ...
. Roach played in two of West Indies' three matches, as they exited the tournament in the first round, and took three wickets at 33.33.
Shortly before West Indies embarked on a
tour of Australia in November to December 2009; senior players such as
Chris Gayle and
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Shivnarine "Shiv" Chanderpaul (born 16 August 1974) is a Guyanese cricket coach and former captain of the West Indies cricket team. Considered one of the greatest batsmen of his era, Chanderpaul is the first Indo-Caribbean to play 100 Tests for ...
returned to the squad, but Roach had sufficiently impressed selectors during the dispute that he retained his place. The West Indies lost the first Test in three days;
Adrian Barath
Adrian Boris Barath (born 14 April 1990) is a former West Indies, West Indian cricketer. A right-hand opening batsman for Trinidad and Tobago cricket team, Trinidad and Tobago, Barath made his Test cricket, Test debut in November 2009, becoming t ...
's century on debut and Roach's bowling performance were the main positives for the West Indies; in the opinion of former Australia captain
Ian Chappell
Ian Michael Chappell (born 26 September 1943) is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. He captained Australia between 1971 and 1975 before taking a central role in the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation. Born ...
, Roach's bowling was "exceptionally good" but he lacked support from more senior bowlers. Although the West Indies drew the second Test, Roach (who was regularly bowling over ) and
Dwayne Bravo took the West Indies close to levelling the series on the final day of the match. Australia's captain,
Ricky Ponting
Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former cricketer. Ponting was captain of the Australian national team during its "golden era", between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 20 ...
, commended Roach for his control and accuracy and said "Someone who is pretty short at that pace can get the ball to skid onto you pretty quickly off the wicket with not much bounce. We've played him pretty well here
n Adelaide The ball reverse-swung for them in both innings. He's a handful, there's no doubt about that. He's someone who could play a fair bit of Test cricket for them in the future." It was the opinion of
Tony Cozier
Winston Anthony Lloyd Cozier (10 July 1940 – 11 May 2016) was a Barbadian cricket journalist, writer, and radio commentator on West Indian cricket for over fifty years. Scyld Berry wrote that he was both the voice and the conscience of West I ...
that in the absence of experienced fast bowlers
Jerome Taylor
Jerome Everton Taylor (born 22 June 1984) is a Jamaican cricketer who has played as a fast bowler for the West Indies. Taylor eventually picked up 100 wickets for the Windies in both tests and odis. During 2017 he reversed an initial decision t ...
and
Fidel Edwards
Fidel Henderson Edwards (born 6 February 1982) is a Barbadian cricketer, who plays all formats of the game. A pace bowler, his round-arm action is "not unlike" that of former fast bowler Jeff Thomson. He was spotted in the nets by Brian Lara and ...
, Roach was the leader of the bowling attack in Australia. Roach, who was fastest of the West Indies' bowling line-up, troubled the Australian batsmen with his pace through the series, and a rivalry emerged between Roach and Ponting. In the first innings of the third and final Test, Roach struck Ponting on the elbow, who was forced to retire hurt. However, he was forced to bowl into the wind, which surprised Australian batsmen
Shane Watson as it reduced Roach's pace.
Roach was one of the most sought-after players at the
2010 IPL
The 2010 Indian Premier League season, abbreviated as IPL 3 or the 2010 IPL, was the third season of the Indian Premier League, established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The tournament was hosted by India and had a ...
auctions along with
Kieron Pollard and
Shane Bond
Shane Edward Bond (born 7 June 1975) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer and present bowling coach of Mumbai Indians, described as "New Zealand's best fast bowler since Sir Richard Hadlee". He represented New Zealand in Test, O ...
. He was involved in a tug-of-war as both
Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 2008, the team plays its home matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The team is owned by India ...
and
Deccan Chargers were fiercely bidding on him. Finally the latter managed to get him for a fee of US$720,000 as the
Super Kings had another slot to fill and could not go beyond US$700,000. He played just two matches for the Chargers in the 2010 season, against
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians are a franchise cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League and is the most successful team of the tournament with 5 titles. Founded in 2008, the team is owned by India's biggest conglo ...
and
Kolkata Knight Riders
The West Indies hosted the
2010 ICC World Twenty20
The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was won by England, who defeated Australia in the fina ...
in April and May. West Indies exited the competition in the first round; Roach played in three of the team's matches, and was West Indies' second highest wicket-taker (5 wickets at an average of 15.40) behind
Darren Sammy
Daren Julius Garvey Sammy (born 20 December 1983) is a Saint Lucian cricketer who played international cricket for the West Indies. He is a two time T20 World Cup winning captain. On making his One-Day International (ODI) debut against Banglad ...
. After the tournament
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
remained in the West Indies for their
tour of the region in June 2010. South Africa won the three-match Test series 2–0; Roach played in two matches, taking 6 wickets at an average of 31. In the third Test, Roach was involved in an incident with
Jacques Kallis
Jacques Henry Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as South Africa's greatest batsman ever, he is a right-handed batsman and righ ...
; he "repeatedly walked up to and exchanged words with the batsman after testing him with a series of bouncers". As a result, Roach was fined 50% of his match fee.
Roach was part of the West Indies squad which toured Sri Lanka in
November and December 2010. Senior bowlers Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards were absent, leaving Roach as the head of the attack. In the lead up, he attempted to develop his use of
swing
Swing or swinging may refer to:
Apparatus
* Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth
* Pendulum, an object that swings
* Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus
* Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse
* Swing rid ...
to cope with Sri Lankan pitches traditionally unhelpful to fast bowlers. Roach remarked "I still have a little bit of work to do on my lengths, but I'm satisfied with what I got out of the camp". Roach's performance in the Tests, finishing as the West Indies lead wicket-taker with 10 wickets at an average of 24.50 for which he was named Man of the Series, was highlighted by Sammy, the team's captain, as one of the best performances of the drawn series.
In February 2011 Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka hosted the 50-over
World Cup. In the West Indies' second game of the tournament, Roach became the sixth bowler to have claimed a
hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...
in a World Cup. He dismissed
Pieter Seelaar,
Bernard Loots, and
Berend Westdijk for his hat-trick and went on to claim 6/27, the fourth-best bowling figures by a West Indies player in ODIs. He was the West Indies' leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 13 wickets from 6 matches. Roach played just four Tests in 2011, and took seven wickets at a cost of over 50 runs each. Five players bowled more overs in Tests for the West Indies, and each took more wickets and had a better bowling average; four of them took more than 30 wickets. Despite not regularly featuring in the Test side, Roach finished the year as the team's leading wicket-taker in ODIs with 30 dismissals from 23 matches at an average of 31.16. Roach signed a contract in August 2011 to represent
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
in English domestic cricket. At the time the club was struggling to avoid relegation from the first division of the
County Championship
The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...
, the first-class competition, and in the final game of the season managed to ensure they stayed up. According to Roach Worcestershire's seam bowler
Alan Richardson helped him learn how to bowl in English conditions, and took 14 first-class wickets at an average of 39.28.
Australia embarked on a
tour of the West Indies in March 2012. In the second match of the three-Test series Roach completed his first ten-wicket haul, thereby becoming the first bowler to take
ten wickets in a match
In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used.
Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bowle ...
for the West Indies since
Corey Collymore
Corey Dalanelo Collymore (born 21 December 1977) is a former Barbadian cricketer, who represented the West Indies team in both Tests and ODIs cricket as seam bowler.
Collymore also played for Barbados, Warwickshire, Sussex and Middlesex ...
in 2005; the last West Indian player to achieve the feat against Australia was
Curtly Ambrose
Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN (born 21 September 1963) is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, he took 405 Test wickets at a ...
in 1993. Though the West Indies lost 2–0, Roach's 19 wickets for the series was the most for either side. When the West Indies
toured England in May and June 2012, Roach struggled with bowling
no balls
No (and variant writings) may refer to one of these articles:
English language
* ''Yes'' and ''no'' (responses)
* A determiner in noun phrases
Alphanumeric symbols
* No (kana), a letter/syllable in Japanese script
* No symbol, displayed ...
. In the first Test at Lord's he bowled 18 of them, and in the next match he twice had
Alastair Cook
Sir Alastair Nathan Cook (born 25 December 1984) is an English cricketer who plays for Essex County Cricket Club, and played for England in all international formats from 2006 to 2018. A former captain of the England Test and One-Day Intern ...
caught off a no ball. However,
Jonny Bairstow
Jonathan Marc Bairstow (born 26 September 1989) is an English cricketer who plays internationally for England in all formats. In domestic cricket, he represents Yorkshire, and has played in multiple Twenty20 leagues, including for Sunrisers Hy ...
struggled against Roach's bowling, in particular short-pitched bowling, and sustained several blows on the body before falling to Roach.
Later career
In October 2018,
Cricket West Indies (CWI) awarded him a contract across all formats of cricket for the 2018–19 season. The following month, in the second Test
against Bangladesh, Roach played in his 50th Test match.
In April 2019, he was named in the
West Indies' squad for the
2019 Cricket World Cup
The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...
. In June 2020, Roach was named in the West Indies' Test squad, for their series
against England. The Test series was originally scheduled to start in May 2020, but was moved back to July 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. In the third Test, Roach took his 200th wicket in Test cricket.
In 2021, Roach signed for
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South London ...
, joining up with the squad following the
Sobers–Tissera trophy
The Sobers–Tissera Trophy is a cricket trophy, awarded to the winners of Test series between West Indies and Sri Lanka. It was first awarded following the 2015-16 series between the sides. The trophy is named after Sir Garfield Sobers and Micha ...
. In June 2022, in the second match
against Bangladesh, Roach took his 250th wicket in Test cricket.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roach, Kemar
1988 births
Living people
People from Saint Lucy, Barbados
Barbadian cricketers
West Indies Test cricketers
West Indies One Day International cricketers
West Indies Twenty20 International cricketers
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup
One Day International hat-trick takers
Antigua Hawksbills cricketers
Barbados cricketers
Brisbane Heat cricketers
Deccan Chargers cricketers
Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers
Saint Lucia Kings cricketers
Surrey cricketers
Worcestershire cricketers