BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Fidel Edwards continued his comeback from injury when bowled in a Barbados national trial on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old West Indies fast bowler delivered 10 overs and conceded just 17 runs, as Jason Holder’s XI reached 152 for three in their second innings when the four-day match at the rural St. Catherine Club on the island’s south-east coast came to a climax. Edwards has maintained his slingy side-on action, and managed to get a few deliveries to whiz past the batsmen, although he generally bowled well within himself on the docile pitch.
Edwards, a veteran of 43 Tests, 50 One-Day Internationals and 12 Twenty20 Internationals, was sidelined with a worrying back injury on October 14, 2009, after he played for the Deccan Chargers against Trinidad & Tobago in a Champions League T20 match at Hyderabad in India. This appearance for the Chargers came during a remedial programme, after he was afflicted by the back ailment during the West Indies tour of England at the World T20 Championship in June 2009 in England. Edwards returned to the playing fields at the end of last year to help his Young Men’s Progressive Club avoid relegation from the Barbados Cricket Association Division 1 Championship.
He also took part in a one-week training camp in the island, with the West Indies squad before their trip to Sri Lanka also at the end of last year.
Edwards was also drafted late into the Barbados trials squad for the ongoing Caribbean T20 Championship, but did not make the final cut.
West Indies’ bowling attack has been severely depleted with both Edwards and Jerome Taylor sidelined with injury.
Taylor made his return to serious action, when he bowled for Jamaica on the opening day of the CT20 against reigning champions Guyana on Monday.
Kemar Roach has diligently carried the burden of responsibility for West Indies, but he has lacked firepower at the other end, which has allowed opponents to wriggle free from wobbly positions in recent matches.
The Barbados trial match is in preparation for the regional first-class championship, which opens on February 1.
No player distinguished themselves on the final day of the match.
