Thank you, Shannon Gabriel

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I note the international retirement of West Indies fastest pace bowler from Trinidad and Tobago, Shannon Gabriel. A towering, ferocious, mean, fast-bowling machine, the ideal West Indian fast bowler. Underrated and underutilised, in my humble opinion, but injuries hampered his tenure just like every other athlete. I could never forget his match-winning spell against Pakistan in the second test in Guyana, 2016, where he tore through the batting line-up with the likes of Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Asad Shafique, Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan.

In the third test, however, “Why did he do do that?”. He made that big whoop and got an inside edge off Yasir Shah that ricocheted onto the stumps in the penultimate over of the final day. Legendary commentary from Fazeer Mohammed, by the way, and a brilliant series finale for the neutral. Given the emergence of Jayden Seales, he had to do just that and call time on his fulfilling career. I’m glad we haven’t seen the last of him, as I believe he still has a lot to offer for the national team across all formats, and we are overdue for another four-day championship under our belt, in case he is reading this letter.

Significant return of 202 wickets for a bowler who takes close to seven minutes to bowl an over. Thank you for your service to West Indies, Shannon Gabriel, it was a pleasure to witness you represent us in the regional side.

KENDELL KARAN

Chaguanas

Trinidad and Tobago