It was 26 years ago, in 1994, when the world saw a West Indies bowler achieving the feat of 200 Test wickets for the last time. Fast bowling legend Sir Curtly Ambrose was the one who reached the milestone that time and thus became the eighth, and also the last, among the West Indies bowlers to achieve the feat. Since then, no other bowler from the Caribbean has gone past the milestone but the wait is about to end as Kemar Roach is just three wickets short of joining the legendary club.
Roach was on 193 wickets when the ongoing series between England and West Indies started. Although he went wicketless, despite bowling well, in the first match at Southampton, Roach came back strongly in the second Test at Manchester to pick up four wickets.
As Roach goes into the third Test now, with the series level on 1-1, it would be a fitting way to reach his milestone if it comes in a winning cause as well.
| Players | Matches | Wickets | Average | Strike-rate |
| Courtney Walsh | 132 | 519 | 24.44 | 57.8 |
| Curtly Ambrose | 98 | 405 | 20.99 | 54.5 |
| Malcolm Marshall | 81 | 376 | 20.94 | 46.7 |
| Lance Gibbs | 79 | 309 | 29.09 | 87.7 |
| Joel Garner | 58 | 259 | 20.97 | 50.8 |
| Michael Holding | 60 | 249 | 23.68 | 50.9 |
| Gary Sobers | 93 | 235 | 34.03 | 91.9 |
| Andy Roberts | 47 | 202 | 25.61 | 55.1 |
Table: West Indies bowlers with 200 or more Test wickets
A total of eight West Indies bowler have achieved the feat of 200 Test wickets in the past and Roach will be the ninth one if he goes past the mark in the final Test of the series beginning on Friday at Manchester.
The 32-year-old has played 58 Test matches till date and his 197 scalps have come at an excellent average and strike-rate of 27.53 and 53.2 respectively.