Vasbert Conniel Drakes (born 5 August 1969 in Springhead,

Saint Andrew, Barbados Saint Andrew ("St. Andrew") is one of eleven parishes of Barbados. It is situated in the northeastern area in the country. Saint Andrew is one of the more unspoiled parts of the island owing to its physical makeup of green rolling hills. The pari ...

) is a former

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

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 played Tests and ODIs. He was a right-arm medium-fast bowler and handy right-hand lower order batsman. Drakes featured for

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

and

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

in his cricketing career. He also coached the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

and the

West Indies women's cricket team The West Indies women's cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a combined team of players from various countries in the Caribbean that competes in international women's cricket. The team is organised by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), a ...

International career

Drakes made his international debut in 1994–95, when he played 5 ODI games against

Australia cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) a ...

, followed by a tour of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He did not return to the side until the age of 33, when in September 2002 he was named in the

West Indies cricket team The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West I ...

' squad for the

2002 ICC Champions Trophy The 2002 ICC Champions Trophy was a cricket tournament that was held in Sri Lanka in 2002. It was the third edition of the ICC Champions Trophy – the first two having been known as the ICC Knock Out Tournaments. The tournament was due to be h ...

. He took the wicket of

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 ...

in his first international over for seven years. He went on to make his test debut, on 8 December 2002, against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

Bangabandhu National Stadium Bangabandhu National Stadium ( bn, বঙ্গবন্ধু জাতীয় স্টেডিয়াম, ''romanised: Bongobondhu jateeyo stediyaam''), also known as Dhaka Stadium, and formerly known as Dacca Stadium, is the national s ...

. Drakes then took 5 wickets against Australia in the first test of the 2003 Frank Worrel Trophy series played at

Bourda Bourda, or officially Georgetown Cricket Club Ground, is a cricket ground in Georgetown, Guyana, used by the Guyanese cricket team for matches with other nations in the Caribbean as well as some Test matches involving the West Indies. The groun ...

. This was his first and only five wicket haul in test match cricket. With the bat he scored a notable unbeaten 27 which helped the Windies to chase down a world-record target of 418, set by

in the fourth test of the series played at the

Antigua Recreation Ground Antigua Recreation Ground is the national stadium of Antigua and Barbuda. It is located in St. John's, on the island of Antigua. The ground has been used by the West Indies cricket team and Antigua and Barbuda national football team. It had Tes ...

. He later made 67 in a test match played in and against South Africa. This was his first and only half century in international cricket. Drakes also featured in the 2003 ICC World Cup where he took a spectacular diving catch in a game against

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 ...

. He eventually picked up a sum of 51 wickets at an average of 25.35 with two five wicket hauls in his ODI career.

Domestic career

Drakes played county cricket for English sides

and

. He scored two centuries for Sussex and picked up 80 wickets in his first and only season with Nottinghamshire. He also featured for South African club

, with Drakes twice being named, in 1999 and 2000, as one of the South African Cricketers of the Year. Drakes is also one of only six batsmen in the history of

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

to be given out

timed out Timed out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It occurs when an incoming batsman is not ready to play within three minutes of the previous batsman being out. It is very rare to be out in such a fashion, and has never occurred in an ...

. As he wasn't in the country at the time, his flight to South Africa, to attend a match played between Border and Free State, had been delayed by several hours.

Coaching career

After his cricketing career, Drakes was appointed coach of

United Arab Emirates national cricket team The United Arab Emirates national cricket team ( ar, فريق الإمارات الوطني للكريكيت) is the team that represents the United Arab Emirates in international cricket. They are governed by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) w ...

for a three-month period that included the

2008 Asia Cup The 2008 Asia Cup (also called Star Cricket Asia Cup) was a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament, held in Pakistan from 24 June to 6 July 2008, at two venues. The six teams which took part in the tournament were India, Pakistan, Sri Lan ...

and

2008 ACC Trophy Elite The 2008 ACC Trophy Elite was a cricket tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, taking place between 25 July and 3 August 2008. It gives Associate and Affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience of international one-day cricket and a ...

. Then he took over coaching for

Barbados cricket team The Barbados national cricket team is the national cricket team of Barbados, organised by the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA). Barbados is a member of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), which is a member of the International Cricket Counci ...

. He was also briefly the coach of

Queen's Park Cricket Club The Queen's Park Cricket Club (QPCC) is a cricket club in Trinidad and Tobago, current owner of the Queen's Park Oval, having previously played at the Queen's Park Savannah since its founding in 1891. During the first decades of the twentieth cent ...

. In April 2015, Drakes was name head coach of

. He led the

to their first major title by winning the

2016 ICC Women's World Twenty20 The 2016 ICC Women's World Twenty20 was the fifth edition of the ICC Women's World Twenty20, the world championship of women's Twenty20 International cricket. India hosted the event for the first time, with matches played from 15 March to 3 Ap ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Personal life

Drakes's son,

Dominic Drakes Dominic Conneil Drakes (born 6 February 1998) is a Barbadian cricketer. He plays for Barbados in domestic cricket and for the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Drakes is the son of Vasbert Drakes, who played inter ...

is also a

cricketer 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 ...

who's a left arm seamer.

References

External links

Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drakes, Vasbert 1969 births Living people West Indies One Day International cricketers West Indies Test cricketers Barbadian cricketers Scotland cricketers Barbados cricketers Sussex cricketers Border cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup People from Saint Andrew, Barbados Barbadian cricket coaches Coaches of the United Arab Emirates national cricket team Commonwealth Games competitors for Barbados