Lionel Sionne Baker (born 6 September 1984) is a

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er who has played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

for the Leeward Islands. He is the first person from Montserrat to have represented the West Indies at

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

Personal life

Although he was born in Montserrat, Lionel Baker spent several years living in London and attended school there. Retrieved on 12 November 2008.

Domestic career

Baker made his debut for the Leeward Islands in the 2004/05 season. Retrieved on 12 November 2008. In 2007 Baker, played for an English Village club side called Marston Green Cricket Club and broke their long standing batting record, scoring 207 against Aston Unity on 27 August. Baker scored 819 runs, and took 27 wickets in this season. Baker, took a shine to the local Chinese takeaway, and regularly ate shrimps for his post match snack. In the 2008 English season, Baker represented Walmley in the

Birmingham and District Premier League The Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League is the oldest club cricket league in the United Kingdom, formed in 1888. It was the first ECB Premier League, being designated such in 1998, and is one of the strongest of the ECB Premier Leagues ...

. After impressing in the nets in 2008, Baker signed a two-year contract with Leicestershire County Cricket Club to represent them from 2009. He has a British passport which would have allowed him to play without counting as an overseas or Kolpak player. However, a month later the deal fell through once Baker was selected for the West Indies team as he was no longer eligible to play as a Kolpak player. Retrieved on 12 November 2008. Baker has represented Montserrat in the Stanford 20/20 since the 2006 season and was selected in the Stanford Superstars squad in 2008 to play against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, but did not play for them.

International career

Baker represented the West Indies at U19 level, he finished his Youth One Day International career with 17 wickets from 8 matches at an average of 18.47 with best bowling figures of 6/39. The figures of 6/39 earned Baker a man-of-the-match award and were taken against Sri Lanka U19s. On 1 November 2008, the ODI squad to tour Pakistan was announced, with Baker as one of the members. On the same day, it was announced that he was one of four players – along with Brendan Nash, Leon Johnson, and Kemar Roach – without a Test cap to be named in the 15-man squad selected to tour

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

for a Test series. Retrieved on 12 November 2008. He became the first player from Montserrat to represent the West Indies senior side at international level when he made his One Day International (ODI) debut against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

on 12 November 2008. His first wicket in international cricket was that of

Salman Butt Salman Butt (, born 7 October 1984) is a former Pakistani cricketer and captain who played for Pakistan national cricket team between 2003 and 2010, before getting banned for five years for his involvement in 2010 spot-fixing scandal. He had ...

, bowled. He did not bat and after coming on to bowl first change, finished the match with bowling figures of 9–0–47–3, also claiming the scalps of

Younis Khan Mohammad Younis Khan PP SI (Urdu: ; Pashto: ; born 29 November 1977) is a Pakistani professional cricket coach and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all three formats of the game, and is widely regarded as ...

and Shahid Afridi as the West Indies narrowly lost by four wickets. Retrieved on 12 November 2008. Baker made his Test debut on 11 December, playing against

. Retrieved on 19 February 2009.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Lionel 1984 births Living people Montserratian cricketers Leeward Islands cricketers West Indies Test cricketers West Indies One Day International cricketers West Indies Twenty20 International cricketers West Indies B cricketers