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Getting Back |
The 23-year-old from Boscobel, in the northern Barbados parish of St.Peter, is recuperating from a reoccurence of multiple stress fractures of the lower vertebrae.
"Right now, I am taking it in stride, and getting as much match practise as possible," he said, during the recent Busta International Shield match against the West Indies 'B' team in Trinidad.
During trial matches for the 1996 Northern Telecom youth tournament in Jamaica, the powerfully-built fast bowler felt pain in his mid-section yet, he admitted, "I thought it was a muscle injury. But it was aggravated by weeks of strenous cricket."
Collymore was the premier strike bowler for Barbados and, by extension, the W
est
Indies during their three-Test confrontation at home against
a Pakistani team which included Mohammed Wasim, Shahid Afridi
and Abdur Razzaq.
After an eight-month rest, he was forced to abort a comeback in order to seek treatment by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) appointed medical specialist Ainsworth Allen, along with two wounded pacers, Ken Benjamin and Nixon McLean, in New York.
In 1999, he finally earned a breakthrough into the Barbados eleven where he claimed 32 wickets in seven matches. With his aggression and pace, his effort was instrumental for Barbados as they lifted the inaugural Busta Cup trophy.
A few weeks later, he replaced his close friend Pedro Collins in the West Indies squad for the fourth Test match against the visiting Australians. At the Antigua Recreation Ground pitch, he claimed a solitary wicket, Greg Blewett caught behind by Ridley Jacobs.
But Collymore's back woes were not far off though. At the Toronto Cricket Festival in September 1999, he felt pain in his spinal region during their third match against India.
"I mentioned it to Brian Lara (then team captain) and I missed the remainder of the series. I took a CT scan upon my return to Barbados and I was out of the game until April 2000."
Collymore's selection into the 16-man team for the tour of England caused heated debate among fans due to his lack of match practice. Admitting that his fitness was not 100 percent leading up to the summer's trip, he stated, "I was pleased with my bowling. I am coming back (into full fitness) gradually, even though I still think I can put out a lot more
work."
The well-spoken Collymore was born a few minutes away from his teammate Pedro Collins, who is also recovering from injury.
"From a young age, I had a love of the game, with the dream of being a fast-bowling allrounder," he acknowledges. "And myself and Pedro Collins are very close, always encouraging each other to do well."
Progressing through the schools cricketing system in Barbados, Collymore became the first Test cricketer from the formerly all-girls institution, Alexandra School.
He is also thankful for the help administered by the late West Indies allrounder Keith Boyce, who was one of the Barbados junior team coaches in the mid-1990s.