Full name : Ravindranath Rampaul
Born : October 15, 1984, Preysal, Trinidad
Current age : 25 years
Major teams : Ireland, West Indies, Trinidad & Tobago, University of West Indies Vice Chancellor's XI
Batting style : Left-hand bat
Bowling style : Right-arm fast-medium
Profile
Of East Indian descent, Ravi Rampaul is tall, strong, and well-built. He first sprung to notice at the World Under-15 Challenge in England in 2000, and after some excellent performances in youth cricket, he made his Trinidad & Tobago debut in 2002, playing twice. In 2003 he took 18 wickets in six matches, and then some impressive performances for West Indies Under-19s propelled him to the verge of international selection. He grabbed a few wickets, but it was his aggression that caught the eye: against Antigua & Barbuda he unleashed four successive bouncers at the opener and finished him off with an unplayable yorker.
He was picked to tour southern Africa in 2003-04, making his ODI debut in Zimbabwe, and was retained for the England series and return trip later that year. But he broke down and returned home, shin splints sidelining him for more than a year. He only really returned in 2006-07 with 20 wickets, his 7 for 51 against Barbados underlining to the selectors that he was back. They rewarded him with a recall to tour England for a second time and impressed sufficiently to be named in West Indies' Twenty20 World Championship squad. Rampaul soon became a regular in West Indies' limited-overs squads and also completed a Level One coaching course.
