Kemar Roach signs Surrey deal for early-season County Championship stint
Fast bowler available for seven games after West Indies’ Test series against Sri Lanka
Surrey have signed Kemar Roach, the West Indies fast bowler, for the first seven games of the County Championship season.
Roach will be the club’s second overseas player for the early part of the season, alongside Hashim Amla, who initially joined Surrey on a Kolpak deal ahead of the 2020 season.
While Surrey already have several fast-bowling options on their books, they have opted to bring in Roach’s experience following Morne Morkel’s departure, and with Sam and Tom Curran due to miss the start of the Championship season to play in the IPL.
Roach will be returning to county cricket after a decade-long absence, following a brief spell at Worcestershire towards the end of the 2011 season.
He will fly to the UK after the completion of West Indies’ second Test against Sri Lanka, and Surrey said in a press release that they expect him to be available for their season opener against Gloucestershire on April 8, “subject to any Covid restrictions and quarantine rules”. He will return to the Caribbean after the fixture against Middlesex, which starts on May 20.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be joining Surrey for the early part of the summer,” Roach said. “Two grounds I wanted to play at as a kid were the two Ovals: Kensington and The Oval, home of Surrey.
“When Alec Stewart showed an interest in me I had no hesitation in saying yes to him. The club has a strong squad with a nice balance of youth and experience. I would like to thank CWI for allowing me the opportunity to go back and play county cricket again after a number of years.”
Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, said: “I’m very pleased to have secured the services of Kemar for the first seven games of the upcoming season. He’s a highly skilled bowler who we feel will suit the conditions of the early part of the English domestic season.
“He is vastly experienced at international and domestic level and bowled very well in last summer’s Test series in England without amassing the wicket haul he really deserved.”
