Reon Dane King (born 6 October 1975) is a former West Indian

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 striki ...

er who has played 19

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

and 50

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s for the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. An athletic paceman from

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

with a slinky run sometimes compared to

Michael Holding Michael Anthony Holding (born 16 February 1954) is a Jamaican former cricketer and commentator who played for the West Indies cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pace bowlers in cricket history, he was nicknamed "Whispering Dea ...

's, King bowls through that run rather than setting himself at the crease, but was still considered to be West Indies' fastest bowler at the end of the 1990s.

Personal life

He was born in Goed Fortuin, but grew up in Newtown Kitty. He attended St Joseph's High School where he was encouraged to join the GCC. King made his Under-19 debut for Guyana in the 1993 Northern Telecom Regional Youth Championship. In 2007 he began coaching cricket. He manages Genesis Fitness Gym, which is owned by his wife.

International career

He enjoyed a successful home season in 1999–2000, taking his first Test five-for against Zimbabwe in Jamaica. Two months later, after setting up a tight win over Pakistan, he and

Franklyn Rose Franklyn Albert Rose (born 1 February 1972) is a former West Indian cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a fast right-arm bowler who possesses a lot of power with his full-length outswing. International career In the first innings in w ...

seemed almost ready to succeed

Curtly Ambrose Sir Curtly Elconn Lynwall Ambrose KCN (born 21 September 1963) is an Antiguan former cricketer who played 98 Test matches for the West Indies. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, he took 405 Test wickets at a ...

and

Courtney Walsh Courtney Andrew Walsh OJ (born 30 October 1962) is a former Jamaican cricketer who represented the West Indies from 1984 to 2001, captaining the West Indies in 22 Test matches. He is a fast bowler and considered one of the all-time greats, best ...

. But both fell away during the 2000 tour of England, where King was said to be troubled by a heel injury. An introverted character and a genuine No. 10, King was a

forgotten man The forgotten man is a political concept in the United States centered around those whose interests have been neglected. The first main invocation of this concept came from William Graham Sumner in an 1883 lecture in Brooklyn entitled ''The Forgott ...

for four years, until he was recalled for the home series against South Africa in 2004–05, when a raft of leading players were sidelined by a contract dispute. King was a strong performer in ODIs, rising to fourth in the ICC Rankings in 2000 and finishing with 76 wickets at 23.77, the fourth lowest ODI bowling average by a West Indian after

Joel Garner Joel Garner (born 16 December 1952) is a former West Indian cricketer, and a member of the highly regarded late 1970s and early 1980s West Indies cricket teams. Garner is the highest ranked One Day International bowler according to the ICC bes ...

(18.84),

Colin Croft Colin Everton Hunte Croft (born 15 March 1953) is a former West Indian international cricketer. Cricket career Croft was (along with Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and Joel Garner) part of the potent West Indian quartet of fast bowlers from t ...

(20.35) and

(21.36). His performances went unnoticed by the selectors, who picked him for just two games after 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Reon 1975 births Living people Cricketers at the 1999 Cricket World Cup Durham cricketers Guyanese cricketers Northerns cricketers West Indies One Day International cricketers West Indies Test cricketers Guyanese expatriates in South Africa Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Guyana cricketers