WICB didn’t check my injury status: Taylor

Jerome Taylor says the WICB did not check on the status of his back problem till he landed in India.[© AFP] Back to competitive cricket in the IPL after an injury layoff, West Indian pacer Jerome Taylor says his Board did not check on the status of his back problem till he landed in India for the Twenty20 event.

The pacer, contracted with the Pune Warriors, last played for the West Indies in June 2010 and was ignored for the home ODI series against Pakistan.

Taylor said the back injury that he picked up during the domestic first-class competition earlier this year “was nothing to keep me out for too long.”

“I had asked the WICB for an NOC due to the fact that I wasn’t a contracted player with the WICB. I was in a preparation camp for the Four-Day tournament and didn’t get selected in the 30-man preliminary squad for the World Cup, which none of the selectors said anything to me about even though I was fit enough to be preparing for the first-class competition.”

“I wasn’t sure I was going to be selected, so I had to keep my options open. It was a case where I didn’t want to be at home waiting to be selected, not get picked and let this opportunity pass me for a third year in a row,” he told a website.

Taylor said the Board did not contact him while he was recovering but got in touch once he landed in India for the IPL.

“…no one contacted me about my injury before I came in India,” Taylor said.

“On April 7, 2011, after I had arrived in India, I received an e-mail from (board CEO Ernest) Hilaire — and the Pune Warriors management and medical staff also let me know — that he needed a report on my medical status for his purposes of informing the IPL (about my fitness),” he said.

Taylor’s back injury among others, has meant that he has played just 29 Tests after making his debut in 2003.

In his five IPL matches, Taylor has taken six wickets at 26.16.

“I’m not sure what they (selectors) are thinking right now but what can I do more than go out there and perform? That’s my focus right now. I have to make sure I’m performing and I’m fit, and the rest is left in their hands.”

“At this moment my body is feeling good and I’m up for it and I have to make sure that I put the best of Jerome Taylor out on the park,” he said. © PTI

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