10 West Indies-born cricketers who played for another country
West Indies has been a powerhouse in the cricket world. The Caribbean team won the first ICC Cricket World Cups. Also, the Men in Maroon are the only ones to win the ICC T20 World Cup twice in cricket history.
Unfortunately, there have been some tensions between the players and the West Indies Cricket Board of late. Due to those issues, some big names of the Caribbean team have preferred playing league cricket for franchises over their country.
A few cricketers even migrated to other nations and then represented them at the international level. Here’s a Top 10 list of those players.
#10 Jofra Archer
Find someone who looks at you the way 🐶 looks at Jofra. 😂#HallaBol | #RoyalsFamily | @JofraArcher pic.twitter.com/gcDVyVj0xP
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) December 20, 2020
Current England pace bowler Jofra Archer was born in Barbados. The 25-year-old from Bridgetown helped the England cricket team win their maiden World Cup in 2019.
Archer has provided much balance to the English team. He can even strike a few big shots with the bat in the lower middle-order.
#9 Chris Jordan
Match 43 - The Man of the Match award goes to Chris Jordan for his brilliant figures of 3/17.#Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/ABgCMHPB8D
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 24, 2020
Jofra Archer’s fast bowling partner Chris Jordan is also a Barbadian. The 32-year-old player was born in Christ Church of Barbados.
Like Archer, Jordan is a right-arm quick who can bat in the lower middle-order. Jordan has played 8 Tests, 34 ODIs, and 55 T20Is for the English team.
#8 Gladstone Small
113 wickets across Test & ODI cricket for England
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 18, 2016
Happy Birthday Gladstone Small! pic.twitter.com/1G792rXpxr
Gladstone Small played international cricket for England from 1986 to 1992. In that period, Small represented the English team in 17 Tests and 53 ODIs.
He was born in St. George, Barbados. Like Archer and Jordan, Small was a right-arm fast bowler.
#7 Roland Butcher
England's first black male and female cricketers - Roland Butcher and @ejrainfordbrent - meet in the TMS commentary box.#bbccricket pic.twitter.com/n6TTNL0zn5
— Test Match Special (@bbctms) March 9, 2017
Born in St. Philip, Barbados, Roland Butcher played three Tests and three ODIs for England. Butcher was a right-arm leg-break bowler.
However, he did not bowl a single ball for England. In the three ODI games he played for England, Butcher scored 58 runs, with his highest score being 52.
#6 Chris Lewis
Had a lovely time at lashing with my old friend Chris Lewis. pic.twitter.com/vxZg7ejKpZ
— Saqlain Mushtaq (@Saqlain_Mushtaq) July 5, 2019
Chris Lewis was born in Georgetown of Guyana. He was a right-arm fast bowler, who played international cricket for England.
Lewis played 32 Tests and 53 ODI matches for the English team. The fast bowler scalped 93 Test wickets and 63 wickets in the 50-overs format.
#5 Monte Lynch
Another Guyana-born cricketer to appear on this list is the right-arm bowler Monte Lynch. Interestingly, he played his first and last ODI against West Indies.
Lynch could bowl off-spin and medium pace. He played three ODI matches for England in the year 1988.
#4 Norman Cowans
No hint of a fast bowlers' union as Dennis Lillee fires in a bouncer to Norman Cowans, 1st Test, Perth, November 1982. It was Cowans' Tests debut - in the second innings he made his best score of 36. Lillee suffered a knee injury during the Test and missed the rest of the series pic.twitter.com/AmRTn3lJzn
— Historic Cricket Pictures (@PictureSporting) May 29, 2020
Hailing from St. Mary, Jamaica, fast bowler Norman Cowans played 19 Tests and 23 ODIs for the England cricket team. He took two five-wicket hauls in his Test career.
Cowans picked up 51 wickets in Tests and 23 wickets in his ODI career. Besides, he even aggregated 188 runs in international cricket.
#3 Sammy Guillen
The late Sammy Guillen remains the only West Indian to play for two different Test Nations.
— Caribbean Cricket Podcast (@CaribCricket) November 12, 2020
The Trinidadian played 5 Tests for West Indies against Aus and NZ in 1951-52, and liked NZ so much he emigrated there months later!
He would later play 3 Tests for NZ in 1956 vs WI pic.twitter.com/2ZDTpnfpcU
Sammy Guillen was born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad in the year 1924. Guillen first played Test matches for the West Indies cricket team.
However, he switched to New Zealand later. In all, Guillen played eight Tests in his career, scoring 202 runs at an average of 20.19.
#2 Xavier Marshall
Here's the X-Man, Xavier Marshall on his knees with a huge grin on his face after reaching his first official century for USA against Hong Kong today in Namibia. If USA defends 280, they'll end today with ODI status. pic.twitter.com/t9ZDV4ZMtO
— Peter Della Penna (@PeterDellaPenna) April 24, 2019
Another Caribbean player who first played for West Indies and then switched to another country is Xavier Marshall. The Jamaican player is a right-handed top-order batsman.
After playing a few matches for the Men in Maroon, Marshall has now switched to the USA. He has played 13 ODI matches for the United States.
#1 Clayton Lambert
Having an almost replica of Chanderpaul stance with a napkin tucked inside the cap, this former Windies southpaw opening bat had great strokeplay, till it all lasted. Known for his lofted shots on the on side, played for @usacricket too.#OnThisDay, Happy B'Day Clayton Lambert⬇️ pic.twitter.com/6Iu1zN9CVF
— North Stand Gang - Wankhede (@NorthStandGang) February 10, 2020
Clayton Lambert was born on February 10, 1962 in Berbice. He was a left-handed batsman and a left-arm off-break bowler.
Lambert majorly played for the West Indies cricket team. However, he returned to international cricket as an American played in 2004 at the age of 42.