DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC — Rookie fast bowler Kesrick Williams says variation will be a key part of his arsenal once he gets a chance to show his skills in the Twenty20 International series against Pakistan starting today.
The uncapped 26-year-old, a late call-up to the West Indies squad for the three-match series, said while he had the ability to bowl at pace, it would be more important to use a combination of different deliveries especially in the shortest format.
“A slower ball is not something you can just do, it calls for hard work and training, and it is something that I practice a lot,” the Vincentian said.
“There’s the pace there, I can bowl up to 140 [kph]. That’s there already, that’s an asset. Then in this cricket you need to have a lot of variations and I try my very best to have six different balls I can bowl in an over.
“That is something I really, really work on. It doesn’t come natural, it’s a lot of hard work.”
Williams was not a part of the original squad for the series but was summoned after star all-rounder Andre Russell pulled out late.
The right-armer has played first class matches since his debut five years ago but has come to the fore in the T20 format where he was a regular performer for Jamaica Tallawahs in the last season’s Caribbean Premier League.
Williams topped the Tallawahs bowling stats with 17 wickets from 13 matches at an average of 19 and economy rate of eight, returns which caught the eye of selectors.
“It’s really fantastic to be called up for the West Indies team. It’s something that every young man would dream about to play international cricket,” he said.
“It’s certainly a pleasure, I’m ready to go, hungry for it and determination is there. I’m just ready to go out there and execute and perform and put my name out there in international cricket.”
He continued: “It was just hard work and determination that has taken me through. I went into [playing] for Jamaica Tallawahs knowing what I had to do to get here and I did just that. When I was given the chance to go out there and perform, I just performed.
“When you get an opportunity you just grab it with both hands and do what you’re supposed to do and that’s the reason I am here today.”
While Williams’ call-up was a chance occurrence, he said he intended to remain in the Windies ranks by producing whenever given the opportunity.
“The work has just started. It’s good to set a goal, and when you reach that goal, you have to set another goal because you achieved the other one already,” he explained.
“My goal right now is to stay in the team, keep on performing and stay at international level and make sure that my name is out there.”