Sitting in the stands twiddling his fingers and thinking what might have been, had he transformed into ‘whites’ and get unto the playing field, Shane Shillingford vows to make a Test comeback.
As the Dominican sits in the Grayson and Irving Shillingford stand, he sees Devendra Bishoo grabs another wicket and is man enough to admit the Guyanese deserves his pick on the West Indies team to play against Australia.
“Let’s be fair and realistic, the selectors have gone for the men who finished number one and two in the domestic tournament, Devendra Bishoo and Veerasammy Permaul. I have no problems with that because they are being rewarded for a good season and this is how it should be.”
Shillingford was reported for a suspect bowling action twice and has been working on getting his action right over the past season.
He has so far played 16 Tests taking 70 wickets at 34.55.
He has taken five wickets or more on six occasions and has actually grabbed 20 wickets in two matches at Windsor Park in Dominica.
At the moment he is looking to force his way back to the top level of the game. “I am still involved in a lot of cricket. playing for Windwards Volcanoes have kept me busy. We have been training for the upcoming Caribbean Premier League (CPL), where I will represent the St Lucia Zouks.
“I am currently waiting to join the camp and I am hoping for a great tournament.”
Coming back from a bowling ban is difficult and play on the bowlers mind but Shillingford is counting his lucky stars that his support team has been there with him.
“I have gotten a lot of support locally and has done a lot of work with Vasbert (Drakes). I am now cleared but the work continues and I normally do clips of my bowling and send it to Vasbert and (Richard) Pybus the cricket development director, for their further advice on the matter.
“Coming from the rehabilitation and going into the first class season I felt good. I am working on a lot of variations to still be effective.”
Shillingford was banned from bowling the doosra (delivery moving away from the right hander by an off-spin bowler) and still does not bowl it although being cleared recently. I don’t bowl the doosra at matches. I am still working on it and wants to do more work on it before using it again. Vasbert has been telling me to work on other variations like using the crease and flight to get at batsmen.
“I tried this during the past First Class season with my stock balls, which is the off-break and the arm-ball and did get some success. Vasi wants me to start using the doosra again, he told me it is not a situation of my cutting it out, it is about how comfortable I feel using it.”
In the meantime, it is all about getting comfortable with his action and looking to get back into the wickets column.
