Barbados fast bowler, Fidel Edwards has made himself available for West Indies and hopes to return to international cricket for the first time in almost 10 years.
Edwards celebrates his 39th birthday this week and last represented West Indies in 2012, but, reasoning that he is as fit now as he has ever been, he believes he could play a part in West Indies’ Twenty/20 World Cup campaign later in the year.
He also hopes he can secure a return to the IPL. He last played a match in the tournament in 2009 where he was part of the Deccan Chargers team that won the tournament, but will put himself into the auction this year.
Edwards’ availability for both West Indies and the IPL is due, in part, to Brexit. The UK’s departure from the European Union has put an end to Kolpak registrations in the county game and means that Edwards, who signed such a deal with Hampshire in 2015, is free to play international cricket again.
And while Kolpak registrations were theoretically entitled to play in the IPL, Edwards was obliged to remain available for Hampshire for the entire season and was not, therefore, free to enter the auction.
Although few 39-year-old fast bowlers win top-level comebacks, Edwards does have some skills that West Indies and some IPL teams, no doubt may require. Not least, he can bowl in both the powerplay and at the death and he can still generate sharp pace.
In the most recent Caribbean Premier League season, he was timed at over 148-kilometre per hour (92 mile per hour) and dominated the list of quickest deliveries in the tournament. He isn’t ruling out playing 50-over or even first-class cricket again, either.
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