In May 2003, Omari Banks made history as the first player from the tiny Leeward island of Anguilla to play Test cricket for the West Indies. Facing the mighty Australians, Banks had the sort of introduction that would break lesser men - he picked up three wickets in his first innings, but was spanked for 204 runs in 40 overs, the most runs ever conceded by a Test debutant. With a high, elegant action and good control of flight, Banks possessed sufficient guile to trouble the best, but it was his resourceful lower-middle-order batting that really caught the eye - the following week in Antigua, he contributed an assured and vital 47 not out, as West Indies successfully chased 418 for victory, the highest fourth-innings target in Test history. Banks's skills had been honed at Leicestershire in 2001, where, as a 17-year-old, he spent two months playing for the second XI, with a solitary first-class appearance against the Pakistanis. The following season, he returned to England as part of the West Indian Youth team. After drifting out of the international reckoning in 2005 he eventually joined the Kolpak route into the county when he signed for Somerset in 2008.
Andrew Miller