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West Indies quick bowler Kemar Roach is a “genuine great” and may “easily” obtain the milestone of 300 Test wickets with correct “workload management”, says legendary pacer Courtney Walsh.
Roach will be a key bowler for West Indies once they start the three-Test sequence towards England at Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Wednesday.
“Workload management is something that they can look at it. I don’t think he has played a lot of shorter versions of the game. But it’s up to him as an individual as well to set the standards, set the goals he wants to achieve,” Walsh e informed ‘ESPNcricinfo’.
“He will get 300 quite easily once the workload management is good and he is playing consistent cricket. What you don’t want to happen to him is that every time he comes back he starts all over again.”
The 57-year-old Walsh is impressed by the work ethic and endurance proven by Roach in his bowling over the years.
“… his patience shows he will stick around, and he knows what to do and how to go about achieving that. To me that is what has got him to be as consistent as he is now. His work ethic has gone up as well and he’s doing all he can do to be one of the greats.
“He’s a real nice. His achievement reveals that. What I like about him is his mannerism: he is at all times cool and picked up and he is ready to work.”
The 32-year-old Roach is seven wickets short of picking 200 Test scalps, a milestone that only eight West Indies fast bowlers have achieved so far.
Walsh hoped Roach can achieve it in the opening Test of the three-match series.
“Hopefully, if he can get it out of the manner in the first Test match, it will be good as he may then chill out and luxuriate in the remainder of the sequence,” said Walsh, who took 519 wickets in 132 Tests.
Walsh believes Roach needs someone like Curtly Ambrose, who had got to the 200-mark in 1994, as his new-ball partner to take that pressure off him.
“He has to have somebody like I had Curtly (Ambrose). He must have somebody on this workforce who can most likely give him a smile or one thing totally different to take your thoughts away from it. And that in itself will assist him to chill out,” Walsh said.
The three-Test series will mark the resumption of international cricket amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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