Kemar Roach is an extremely talented quick bowler, hailing from the land of the great fast bowlers, Barbados. He isn't tall, but with a quick arm action generates tremendous pace. He has a mean yorker and made his Test debut against Bangladesh in 2009 when the WIPA went on a strike over pay disputes which led to the selectors picking a B team.
However, it was during the series in Australia that Roach made his name. By bowling quick and with hostility, he peppered Ricky Ponting with short balls and forced him to retire hurt after hitting him on the elbow in the third Test at WACA. With that spell Roach announced himself to the world and Ponting was never the same batsman again. Before making his international debut, Roach represented the West Indies at Under-19 level, participating in the 2006 World Cup.
In the West Indies' second game of the 2011 World Cup against the Netherlands on 28 February, Roach became the sixth bowler to have claimed a hat-trick in the history of the showpiece event. Roach claimed a six-wicket haul in West Indies's massive win by 215 runs.
Despite the comebacks of Fiedel Edwards and Jerome Taylor, Roach has managed to retain his place in the side; which is quite a feat. In the absence of Edwards and Taylor, Roach had manfully toiled, bowling in some unhelpful conditions in Sri Lanka and rightfully earned the mantle of being the strike-bowler.
With his magnificent exploits, Roach was hot property during the IPL auctions in January 2011 and he was eventually picked up by Hyderabad for US 720,000 after Chennai couldn't raise their bid to match that of Hyderabad.
With Edwards coming back later, Roach was rested for the first couple of Tests against India in 2011. When Australia toured West Indies in 2012, Roach picked up his first 10-wicket haul in the second Test. Though the West Indies lost 2–0, Roach's 19 wickets for the series was the most for either side. In the subsequent series against England in June 2012, Roach struggled with no-balls and was unimpressive for the rest of the series. He was ruled out of the tour to India in November 2013, owing to a shoulder injury.
He also missed West Indies' subsequent tour to New Zealand. He was then in the news when he escaped a life threatening injury, surviving a car crash on a rain-lashed Bridgetown road.
Roach made a comeback to the Test side in August 2014, though he looked rusty in the first game against the visitors. He was back to his best from the second game onward. He finished the three-match series with 15 wickets and continued the same form versus Bangladesh, where he scalped 11 sticks in the two Tests. However, Roach got himself injured during the first Test against South Africa in Centurion. He returned for the 2015 World Cup but only featured in three games with modest returns. He hasn't played ODIs since then.
He wasn't selected for the 2016 home Tests against India but he found a way back into the squad to England, picking 23 wickets in the 2016-17 Professional Cricket League. He picked a five-wicket haul in the first innings of the third Test at Lord's.
