Kesrick Williams

People in the Caribbean Island may not have fondly remembered July 2, 2017, as a day of any historical significance, but a certain guy from St Vincent and the Grenadines would always go on to recall the day, over and over again, and then a slow smile would have weaved on his face. Not always you use the cutter to great effect to strangulate one of the best, if not the best, finishers of all-time in the death overs. Kesrick Williams announced his arrival in some style as he kept MS Dhoni on check and conceded only 13 runs in his last 4 overs to hand India a heart-wrenching 11-run loss in Antigua.

It could have been a flash in the pan or one of those days when you are the better against the opposition. But Williams, albeit in flashes, in West Indian colours has delivered in crunch moments.

Born in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Williams, who made his first-class debut for Windward Islands in March 2011 against an England Lions side, typified the Caribbean flair in his bowling, but could play no more than a solitary first-class game for the team before spending almost two years in the wilderness. When he made a comeback to top-flight cricket in 2012-13, it was for Combined Campuses and Colleges and helped the team reach the final of the Regional Super 50 List A competition, only to lose to his old team Windward Islands in the summit clash. However, his appearances for the team in the next season became almost negligible before he went out of first-class cricket for another couple of years.

His actual claim to fame came in the 2016 Caribbean Premier League, in which he topped the bowling tally for Jamaica Tallawahs after picking up 17 wickets; was the third highest wicket-taker of the tournament as well. The performance led to international call-up soon as Andre Russell pulled himself out of the series against Pakistan. Kesrick was selected as a replacement for the flashy all-rounder.

The then 26-year-old left an immediate impression as he managed to grab figures of 2/15 on debut in the third and final T20I of the series. Towards the end of 2016, he secured a contract with Rajshahi Kings in the Bangladesh Premier League and was at the forefront of the team finishing runners-up in the league. Apart from his performances, his ‘selfiebration’ run and the ‘page flipper’ celebration after picking a wicket made him an instant hit among the fans.

His may not have been a career that is one like the meteoric stories of his many fellow compatriots, but his is surely one that is on right track to grow leaps and bounds. Or at least, the promise that he is building up in the last two years says so.