Vasbert Conniel Drakes (born 5 August 1969) is a former

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, who played Tests and ODIs. He was a right-arm medium-fast bowler and handy right-hand lower order batsman. Drakes featured for

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

and

Border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

in his cricketing career. He also coached the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

and the West Indies women's cricket team. Drakes led the West Indies women's cricket team to their first major title by winning the

2016 ICC Women's World Twenty20 The 2016 Women's World Twenty20 was the fifth edition of the Women's T20 World Cup, Women's World Twenty20, the world championship of women's Twenty20 International cricket. India hosted the event for the first time, with matches played from 1 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

International career

Drakes made his international debut in 1994–95, when he played 5 ODI games against

Australia cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in international cricket. Along with England, it is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing and winning the first ever Test match in 1877; the team also plays One ...

, followed by a tour of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He did not return to the side until the age of 33, when in September 2002 he was named in the West Indies cricket team' squad for the

2002 ICC Champions Trophy The 2002 ICC Champions Trophy was a cricket tournament held in Sri Lanka in 2002. It marked the third edition of the ICC Champions Trophy, with the previous two tournaments being known as the ICC Knock Out Tournaments. Originally scheduled to be ...

. He took the wicket of

Jacques Kallis Jacques Henry Kallis Order of Ikhamanga, OIS (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former professional cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as one of the greatest all-rounders ever t ...

in his first international over for seven years. He went on to make his test debut, on 8 December 2002, against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

Bangabandhu National Stadium National Stadium, Dhaka () is a multipurpose sports arena and the national stadium of Bangladesh. Located in the Motijheel area of Dhaka, it is predominantly used for Association football, football matches and serves as the home venue for the B ...

. Drakes then took 5 wickets against Australia in the first test of the 2003 Frank Worrel Trophy series played at

Bourda Bourda, or officially Georgetown Cricket Club Ground, is a cricket ground in Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown, Guyana, used by the Guyanese cricket team for matches with other nations in the Caribbean as well as some Test cricket, Test matches invo ...

. This was his first and only five wicket haul in test match cricket. With the bat he scored a notable unbeaten 27 which helped the Windies to chase down a world-record target of 418, set by

in the fourth test of the series played at the

Antigua Recreation Ground Antigua Recreation Ground is the national stadium of Antigua and Barbuda. It is located in St. John's, on the island of Antigua. The ground has been used by the West Indies cricket team and Antigua and Barbuda national football team. It had ...

. He later made 67 in a test match played in and against South Africa. This was his first and only half century in international cricket. Drakes also featured in the 2003 ICC World Cup where he took a spectacular diving catch in a game against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. He eventually picked up a sum of 51 wickets at an average of 25.35 with two five wicket hauls in his ODI career.

Domestic career

Drakes played county cricket for English sides

and

. He scored two centuries for Sussex and picked up 80 wickets in his first and only season with Nottinghamshire. He also featured for South African club

, with Drakes twice being named, in 1999 and 2000, as one of the South African Cricketers of the Year. Drakes is also one of only six batsmen in the history of

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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

to be given out timed out. As he wasn't in the country at the time, his flight to South Africa, to attend a match played between Border and Free State, had been delayed by several hours.

Coaching career

After his cricketing career, Drakes was appointed coach of

United Arab Emirates national cricket team The United Arab Emirates men's national cricket team is the team that represents the United Arab Emirates in international cricket. They are governed by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) which became an Affiliate Member of the International Cri ...

for a three-month period that included the

2008 Asia Cup The 2008 Asia Cup (also called Star Cricket Asia Cup) was a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament, held in Pakistan from 24 June to 6 July 2008, at two venues. The six teams which took part in the tournament were India, Pakistan, Sri Lan ...

and

2008 ACC Trophy Elite The 2008 ACC Trophy Elite was a cricket tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, taking place between 25 July and 3 August 2008. It gives Associate and Affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience of international one-day cricket and a ...

. Then he took over coaching for Barbados cricket team. He was also briefly the coach of

Queen's Park Cricket Club The Queen's Park Cricket Club (QPCC) is a cricket club in Trinidad and Tobago, current owner of the Queen's Park Oval, having previously played at the Queen's Park Savannah Queen's Park Savannah (QPS) is a park in Port of Spain, Trinidad and To ...

. In April 2015, Drakes was named head coach of West Indies women's cricket team. He led the West Indies women's cricket team to their first major title by winning the

Personal life

Drakes's son, Dominic Drakes is also a

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

who's a left arm seamer.

References

External links

Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drakes, Vasbert 1969 births Living people West Indies One Day International cricketers West Indies Test cricketers Barbadian cricketers Scotland cricketers Barbados cricketers Sussex cricketers Barbadian expatriate cricketers in England Border cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup People from Saint Andrew, Barbados Barbadian cricket coaches Coaches of the United Arab Emirates national cricket team Commonwealth Games competitors for Barbados Coaches of the West Indies women's cricket team