Surrey ropes in West Indies pacer Kemar Roach for County Championship start
Mar 04, 2021
Surrey [UK], March 4 : Surrey County Cricket Club on Thursday announced the signing of West Indies pacer Kemar Roach for the first seven games of the County Championship 2021 season.
Fast bowler Roach will join up with Surrey following West Indies' Test series with Sri Lanka, scheduled to finish in Antigua on April 2.
According to an official statement from Surrey, subject to any COVID restrictions and quarantine rules upon entering the UK, Roach will available for their season opener with Gloucestershire on April 8. He will wear the number 66.
The 32-year-old has played 61 Test matches for West Indies, taking 205 wickets in the process. In total, he has 384 first-class wickets to his name since making his debut in the format in 2008.
14 of those wickets came in a four-match 2011 spell with Worcestershire, his only previous stint with an English county. He was last in the UK for a three-match Test series with England in July 2020.
On joining Surrey, Roach said: "I am absolutely thrilled to be joining Surrey for the early part of the summer. Two grounds I wanted to play at as a kid were the two Ovals, Kensington and The Oval, home of Surrey.
"When Alec Stewart showed an interest in me I had no hesitation in saying yes to him. The Club has a strong squad with a nice balance of youth and experience."
"I would like to thank CWI for allowing me the opportunity to go back and play county cricket again after a number of years," Roach added.
After Surrey's match with Middlesex between 20th and 23rd May, he will return home to prepare for West Indies' scheduled international programme.
