Shane Dowrich

Making his Test debut for West Indies in 2015 against Australia, Shane Dowrich has gone onto evolve as a fine wicket-keeper batsman for his country especially in the longest format. Born in Barbados, Dowrich’s inclusion in the national side came on the back of some impressive performances in the first-class season where he scored 615 runs at an impressive average of 51.25. Not only did Dowrich perform in that season, but he also had an average of over 50 in the previous season which prompted the selectors to include him in the squad in favour of a legendary name in Windies cricket, Shivnarine Chanderpaul. 

The Barbadian might have made his debut for West Indies at the age of 23 but his talent was not unknown to the national selectors and the cricketing pundits from the Caribbean shores. Dowrich was part of the West Indies U 19 World Cup squad in 2010 and went onto finish the tournament as the second-highest run-getter for his team with 229 runs under his belt. Despite impressing in the limited-overs format, Dowrich hasn’t managed to get many chances in the international circuit and remains just a fringe player in the white-ball format. 

The gritty wicket-keeper batsman made his first-class debut for Barbados at the age of 18 and by the end of the year, he was awarded the Lord Gavron Award for Promising Young Cricketer alongside Roston Chase. Handed over his Test debut against Australia in 2015, Dowrich made an immediate impact with a brilliant knock of 70 runs in the second innings of the Test match. 

The stumper has a very sound technique which helped him churn out runs quite consistently. He has always managed to put a big prize on his wicket and has looked a class apart for a batsman coming lower in the middle order. Dowrich played a brilliant knock of 74 in the second Test against India in 2016. 

His knock of 60 against Pakistan at Sharjah also helped his side beat Pakistan in a Test match. Dowrich’s unbeaten knock and a partnership of 87 runs with Kraigg Brathwaite ensured West Indies chased down the target without any more hiccups after being reduced to 67/5. 

Despite some important knocks for the Windies, the elusive century was still not coming. He finally smashed his maiden Test century against Zimbabwe in 2017 and followed it up with two more in the next three years. His form only took an upward slide as he looked in dominant form against Sri Lanka and England in the home series in 2018 and 2019. He smashed two brilliant centuries but his form post the COVID-19 break has been far from impressive and he was dropped from the Test side in the 2021 Test series against Bangladesh. 

(As of April 2021)