Kemar Roach is not your everyday West Indies fast bowler. The lack of an imposing built and a smile on his face would not put him in the same bracket as the legends of yesteryears but for the last decade or so, no fast bowler from the Caribbean has had so much impact on their bowling attack as has Roach in the past year.
Come Friday, if the 22-year-old's height and calm countenance doesn't say much, his pace would do most of the talking (given you disregard the thick gold chain around his neck) despite the slow nature of the wicket at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Roach, who took 6-27 against the Netherlands on Monday including the tournament's first hattrick, was confident of bowling quick on any surface and was roundly endorsed by one of the island nation's great cricketers.
"A fast bowler can bowl fast anywhere. I am not worried about pace, I am here to claim wickets for West Indies and create history. So I am just going to go there and give my best shot," said Roach during West Indies' first training session at the Academy ground yesterday.
Richie Richardson, the former West Indies captain here as the team manager, said that fast bowlers can be successful in the sub-continent, although he didn't count out the surprise element.
"We all know that this part of the world has the reputation of favouring the spinners. The fast bowlers now have so many variations like the slower-ball bouncer.
"Batsmen take a little while to get used to these variations. In these wickets, you have to have variety. You need to just surprise the batsman," said Richardson.
Before his hattrick against the Dutch, Roach was famous for the way he hustled Australia captain Ricky Ponting back in 2009 as well as his fine debut against Bangladesh earlier in the same year. In the rain-abandoned series against Sri Lanka late last year, Roach picked up a five-wicket haul.
"Obviously you know [Lasith] Malinga bowled lovely yesterday, and Mitchell Johnson also got wickets. I also want my name to be there as well so I have to go and take the step up," said Roach.
The West Indies-Bangladesh encounter has long been billed as the most important tie for both teams given their current status in world cricket. Though the Tigers are now ahead of their opponents in the ICC ODI Rankings, Roach said that winning the game was the only thing in their mind.
"Obviously we are not really bothered who is ahead and who is behind. It is cricket we play and on the day anyone can beat anyone. We just go out there and play cricket as we know.
"But it's a very important match. We are very confident and we have come here with our form around. We are going to give our best for the match. It's a challenge whomever we play and everyone is going to put the best effort and try to win the game on Friday," said Roach, a thought echoed by the team mentor.
"It is a very, very important game. Every game in the World Cup is important. We want to continue winning after the Netherlands
game. We are taking nothing for granted. Playing in Bangladesh against Bangladesh is tough," said Richardson.
Both however were quick to dismiss the 'revenge' clause from the game despite the last meeting between the two teams going in the Tigers' favour, a 3-0 whitewash to be exact.
"Revenge? We are not thinking like that. This is the World Cup and we have to win matches to qualify for the next round," said the man famous for donning the maroon hat from 1983 to 1996.
