Mervyn Dillon

Mervyn Dillon (born 5 June 1974), is a former West Indian cricketer who featured as a fast bowler. He emerged at the twilight of both Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose's careers. Dillon soon became the Windies' new bowling spearhead, picking up a sum of 131 wickets in 38 test matches and 130 wickets from 108 one day internationals.^[1] Dillon was a member of the West Indies team that won the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy.

Mervyn Dillon

Personal information
Full name	Mervyn Dillon
Born	(1974-06-05) 5 June 1974 (age 50) Toco, Trinidad and Tobago
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast-medium
International information
National side	West Indies
Test debut	14 March 1997 v India
Last Test	16 January 2004 v South Africa
ODI debut	3 November 1997 v South Africa
Last ODI	26 January 2005 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1996–2008	Trinidad and Tobago
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs FC LA Matches 38 108 91 161 Runs scored 549 227 1,052 459 Batting average 8.44 7.32 8.28 8.50 100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0 Top score 43 21* 52 41 Balls bowled 8,704 5,480 17,001 7,918 Wickets 131 130 291 188 Bowling average 33.57 32.44 29.20 30.38 5 wickets in innings 2 3 7 3 10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0 Best bowling 5/71 5/29 6/40 5/29 Catches/stumpings 16/– 20/– 35/– 35/–
Medal record Men's Cricket Representing  West Indies ICC Champions Trophy Winner 2004 England
Source: CricketArchive, 24 October 2010

International career

Dillon was born in Mission Village, Toco, Trinidad and Tobago. At one stage, after Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose retired from international cricket, Dillon was the spearhead of the West Indies bowling attack. Subsequently, Dillon was labelled by Simon Briggs as "the natural successor to Courtney Walsh", noting that " his action has a hint of [Walsh's] well-oiled efficiency". According to Briggs, "he takes a high percentage of wickets with the ball that angles in then just holds its own".^[2] Steve Waugh labelled him "the West Indies' most notable underachiever...when he had his act together, [he] didn't lose much in comparison to his legendary predecessors [Ambrose and Walsh]...such days were a rarity."^[3]

He was involved in a remarkable incident at Kandy's Asgiriya Stadium on 21 November 2001 in a test against Sri Lanka when he contracted abdominal pains and was replaced by Colin Stuart after two balls of his third over. Stuart was banned from bowling for the remainder of the innings by umpire John Hampshire after delivering two beamers that were called as no-balls in his first three deliveries. Chris Gayle then completed the last three balls of the over with his off-spin. This was the only instance in the history of Test cricket, when three bowlers were used to complete one over.^[4]

During the Windies' 2002 five test match series against India, one Dillon's bouncers went on to break the jaw of spinner Anil Kumble. He went on to pick up 23 wickets at an average of 27.21 in that said series.^[5]

In October 2007, Dillon signed up as an overseas player for the Indian Cricket League.^[6]

Coaching career

In January 2022 Dillon was appointed head coach of BPL outfit Sylhet Strikers.^[7]

References

1. Shashi. "Exclusive Interview with former West Indian Pacer Mervyn Dillon". sportzwiki.com. Sportzwiki.
2. Briggs, Simon (September 2004). "Mervyn Dillon". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
3. Waugh, Steve (2005). STEVE WAUGH: Out of my comfort zone – the autobiography. Victoria: Penguin Group (Australia). p. 690. ISBN 0-670-04198-X.
4. Hughes, Matt (21 November 2001). "Windies lose two bowlers but last the course". The Guardian. London.
5. Sharma, Aadya (4 August 2016). "Interview with Mervyn Dillon: "If a fast bowler said he never wanted to hurt the batsman, he would be lying"". sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda.
6. "Dillon signs for Indian Cricket League". The Times of India. 13 October 2007.
7. Ramphal, Vidia (18 January 2022). "Mervyn Dillon is Sylhet Sunrisers head coach". tt.loopnews.com. Loop TT.