Praise for pacer Roach

CHANDIGARH, India:

West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson has hailed fast bowler Kemar Roach for his excellent bowling in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 so far. A release from the West Indies Cricket Board yesterday said Gibson was very impressed with Roach's performances and his ability to lead the team's bowling attack.

Roach has been one of the stars of the tournament thus far and has won two Player-of-the-Match awards. The 22-year-old has taken 10 wickets at a strike rate of 13.5. On several occasions he topped the 150kph speed mark. He had a career-best 6-27 against Netherlands including an amazing hat-trick - the first by a West Indian in the Cricket World Cup.

"He has been excellent. He has been world-class," Gibson told reporters at the official media briefing yesterday.

"Everyone in the Caribbean knew from when he was very young that he has the ability to be world-class and here he's proving it with every performance. he's showing it on the biggest stage - the Cricket World Cup."

Pivotal role

Roach also played a pivotal role in the win on Friday's over Bangladesh in Dhaka. He took three wickets as the hosts fell for 58. Gibson also hailed the efforts of skipper Darren Sammy and the other members of the team in that remarkable victory.

"The team is well led by Darren Sammy and he made some very good decisions on that day which led to us taking the advantage from the start and maintaining it throughout the match," said Gibson, a former Barbados and West Indies all-rounder.