BARROW IN FURNESS, England, CMC – Shannon Gabriel looks set to spend the summer in England playing in the Northern League.
Barrow Cricket Club has contracted the strapping Trinidad & Tobago fast bowler for the new season in the hope of winning the title.
The 23-year-old Gabriel is likely to make his debut for the club, when they go to Bradford & Bingley in a pre-season friendly on Saturday, April 7.
West Indies coach Ottis Gibson, a sub-professional for Barrow 12 years ago, and West Indies Cricket Board operations officer Rawl Lewis, the former Windward Islands and West Indies leg-spin bowling all-rounder, Barrow’s pro between 2002 and 2005, gave the club the heads up on Gabriel.
“Shannon is on the verge of the West Indies Test team,” said Barrow Director of Cricket Ian Sharp.
“The reports we’ve had back from Ottis and Rawl are that he is a very quick bowler and excited about his first post as a professional in this country.”
Sharp added: “He’s 6 feet, 3 inches tall, a big, strong lad and his bowling has been timed at 90mph.
“It’s a route we haven’t been down for a number of years. Our last two professionals, Pasan (Wanasinghe) and Pieter (Malan) have both been all-rounders, but this year we feel we’ll have enough batting quality at the top of the order and decided to get a bowler in.”
Gabriel was a graduate of the West Indies High Performance Centre and has forced his way into the T&T team for the Regional 4-Day Tournament.
