Reon King - Guyanese and West Indian Test Cricketer

Reon King - Guyanese and West Indian Cricketer - Photo by George Herringshaw
Reon Dane King  Guyanese and West Indian Test Cricketer

Reon Dane King was born on October 06, 1975 in Goed Fortuin, West Coast Demerara, Guyana. He has played 19 Tests and 50 One Day Internationals for the West Indies.

An athletic paceman with a slinky run sometimes compared to Michael Holding'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.

He made his debut for Guyana in the 1993 Northern Telecom Regional Youth Championship, played in the Leewards. 

He was selected to the West Indies Under-19 team and in his third Youth Test, against England Under-19 at Bourda in January 1995, he took 7 for 97 in England's first innings. In October and November 1995 he toured Pakistan with the West Indies Under-19 team and took 5 for 37 in the first innings of the first Test to set West Indies on the road to victory.

He also toured Bangladesh with the West Indies Under-19 team in November 1995. Right after this tour he made his List A debut for Guyana in the 1995 Shell/Sandal regional 50-overs competition. He then made his first class debut for Guyana in January 1996.

In April 1997 King took 7 for 82 in an innings for Guyana against the touring Indian Test team.

He followed up with 4for 47 and 5 for 56 at Sabina Park in May 1997 as Guyana just failed to defeat Jamaica outright, and then with 5 for 43 against the Windwards two weeks later. These good performances caught the eyes of the West Indies selectors and in November and December 1997 he toured South Africa with the West Indies A team.

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 seemed almost ready to become a permanent fixture in the West Indies team for the 2000 tour of England but King was said to be troubled by a heel injury. 

An introverted character and a genuine No. 10, King was a forgotten man 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 highly effective for the West Indies in One Day Internationals, rising to as high as fourth in the World Rankings in 2000 and finishing his career with 77 wickets at an average of 23.77 and economy of 4.16.

Reon King also represented Marylebone Cricket Club (1999, England), Northerns (2003-2004, South Africa) and Durham (2004, England). He also played for South Northumberland in the North East Premier League.

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Personal information
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs
Matches 19 50
Runs scored 66 65
Batting average 3.47 7.22
100s/50s -/- -/-
Top score 12* 12*
Balls bowled 3442 2603
Wickets 53 76
Bowling average 32.69 23.77
5 wickets in innings 1 -
10 wickets in match - n/a
Best bowling 5/51 4/25
Catches/stumpings 2/- 4/-

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