Regan West

Regan West (born 27 April 1979) is a former New Zealand-born Irish cricketer. He played for the Central Districts and the Wellington in the State Championship in New Zealand. He bowled left-arm, either fast-medium or slow left arm orthodox, batted left-handed. Despite being born in New Zealand, West qualified to play for Ireland in late 2008 and made his first appearance for the team the same year. In 2011 West, at the age of 31, announced his retirement due to an injury to his left shoulder; his last match for Ireland was in August 2009.

Regan West
Personal information
Full nameRegan Morris West
Born (1979-04-27) 27 April 1979
New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingLeft-arm fast medium and slow left-arm orthodox
RoleAll-rounder
RelationsGareth West (brother)
International information
National side
ODI debut (cap 29)25 August 2008 v Kenya
Last ODI27 August 2009 v England
T20I debut (cap 15)8 June 2009 v Bangladesh
Last T20I15 June 2009 v Pakistan
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2008–2009Ireland
1996/97–2004/05Central Districts
2000/01Wellington
Career statistics
Competition ODI T20I FC LA
Matches 10 5 20 23
Runs scored 61 11 352 96
Batting average 30.50 3.66 18.52 13.71
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0
Top score 29* 8 44* 29*
Balls bowled 447 114 3,432 1,052
Wickets 9 3 45 25
Bowling average 31.00 47.33 37.75 28.04
5 wickets in innings 0 0 1 1
10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0
Best bowling 4/26 1/23 7/88 5/26
Catches/stumpings 4/– 1/– 11/– 6/–
Source: CricketArchive, 29 August 2009

Career

New Zealand

Although he would later qualify for Ireland and represent them in international cricket, West began his professional cricketing career in New Zealand, the country of his birth. He made his first-class debut on 22 March 1997, aged 17. In the match, he represented Central Districts in a match against Northern Districts. Though he did not bat, West was line up to come in at number seven. He took 1 wicket in the match for 38 runs (1/38), that of Matthew Hart.[1]

West's first taste of international cricket came in early 1998 when he represented New Zealand Under-19s in the Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He played all of his six Youth ODIs in the tournament.[2] During the World Cup, he played alongside people such as James Franklin who went on to represent New Zealand in Tests and ODIs.[3] From the 1996/97 season to the 2004/05 season,[4] West played 13 first-class matches for Central Districts, scoring 211 runs at an average of 16.23 with a highest score of 44,[5] and took 25 wickets at an average of 43.48.[6] He also played one match for Wellington in the 2000/01 season,[4][5] but went wicketless in the match.[6]

Ireland

West was a member of Instonians in 2003 and in 2004 he moved to Bangor Cricket Club where he was the team's professional player for two seasons. He moved to Belfast after marrying a girl from Northern Ireland. As early as 2005, when he finished top of the Northern Cricket Union batting averages and was named Northern Ireland Player of the Year, there was speculation that West might play for Ireland. At the end of the 2005 season, West moved back to Instonians where he was a local player rather than a professional, stating "I enjoyed my two years at Bangor and made a lot of friends there, however, now that I am working full time [in an accountants' firm] and living in Belfast it seemed a natural move to come back to Instonians".[7] During his second stint with Instonians, West was occasionally suffered disciplinary problems, and on his departure from the club to join Civil Service North at the end of 2007, West said "I don't want to see another disciplinary committee room. I am sick of it and they are probably sick of me".[8] On signing West, the Civil Service North captain said "In Regan, we have signed a quality batsman and a quality bowler – indeed he is two players in one".[8]

At the end of the 2008 season, West qualified to play for Ireland through residency. It was his intention to play for Ireland, and although he was not certain of selection he worked in his fitness in the off-season in the hope of being picked.[8][9] Soon after qualifying, he made his debut for the team 25 August 2008. The match, a One Day International against Kenya, was not only his maiden international match and his first for Ireland, but his list A debut.[10] The match was abandoned due to the weather before Ireland had a chance to bowl.[11] West made his first-class debut for Ireland on 3 October the same year; the match was against Namibia in the 2007–08 ICC Intercontinental Cup.[12] West did not bowl until Namibia's second innings and then only bowled two overs as Ireland bowled Namibia out cheaply in each innings.[13] He did not bowl in ODIs until his second ODI which was on 18 October 2008, again against Kenya. He took 2/35 from 10 overs and his maiden wicket was that of batsman Rakep Patel.[14]

In April 2009, West took his first five-wicket haul in one-day matches during the ICC World Cup Qualifier. In a match against the Oman national cricket team on 2 April, West took 5/26 in Ireland's 116-run victory, beating his previous best bowling figures in one-day matches of 2/35.[15] Ireland won the tournament[16] and West finished with 14 wickets at an average of 22.92 from 10 matches and was Ireland's second highest wicket-taker in the tournament.[17] His haul of 7/88 in the first innings of the 2009 Intercontinental Cup clash against Scotland at Mannonfield in Aberdeen, is a record for Ireland in the competition and the best first-class return since Garfield Harrison's 9/113 against the same opposition in Edinburgh in 1990. West was one of seven Ireland players to be nominated for the 2009 Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year (there were fourteen nominees in all),[18] although he did not make the 4-man short-list.[19] For the summer of 2010, West was unable to play due to injury,[20] and in his absence George Dockrell emerged as Ireland's premier spinner.[21] West announced his retirement from international cricket in April 2011. His decision was caused by a serious injury to his left should; it was believed that he risked damaging it. Reflecting on his time playing for Ireland, West said "Being part of the Ireland team has been the highlight and most enjoyable time of my cricket career. I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to represent Ireland, and it is sad for me that that is now over."[22]

References
  1. f42776 Northern Districts v Central Districts: Shell Trophy 1996/97, CricketArchive.com, retrieved 22 August 2009
  2. Youth One-Day International Matches played by Regan West (6), CricketArchive.com
  3. Potter, David (1 February 2006), Under 19 World Cup 1998, retrieved 22 August 2009
  4. Regan West, CricketArchive.com, retrieved 22 August 2009
  5. First-class batting and fielding for each team by Regan West, CricketArchive.com, retrieved 22 August 2009
  6. First-class bowling for each team by Regan West, CricketArchive.com, retrieved 22 August 2009
  7. Callender, Ian (12 December 2005), West bound for Instonians, cricketEurope.net, retrieved 23 August 2009
  8. Callender, Ian, Regan West moves to Civil Service North, cricketEurope.net, retrieved 23 August 2009
  9. Ireland v Kenya, cricketEurope.net, 25 August 2008, retrieved 23 August 2009
  10. List A Matches played by Regan West (21), CricketArchive.com, retrieved 22 August 2009
  11. a19124 o2753 Ireland v Kenya: Kenya in Ireland 2008 (2nd ODI), CricketArchive.com, retrieved 22 August 2009
  12. First-class matches played by Regan West (19), CricketArchive.com, retrieved 22 August 2009
  13. f50746 Namibia v Ireland: ICC Inter-Continental Cup 2008, CricketArchive.com, retrieved 22 August 2009
  14. o2767 a19184 Kenya v Ireland: Kenya Tri-Nation Tournament 2008/09, CricketArchive.com, retrieved 22 August 2009
  15. a19689 Ireland v Oman: ICC World Cup Qualifier 2008/09 (Group A), CricketArchive.com, retrieved 18 August 2009
  16. Luke, Will (19 April 2009), Porterfield and Johnston lead Ireland romp, Cricinfo, retrieved 18 August 2009
  17. ICC World Cup Qualifiers, 2009 / Records / List A matches / Most wickets, Cricinfo, retrieved 18 August 2009
  18. Cricinfo staff (2 September 2009), Dhoni, Dilshan pick up maximum nominations, Cricinfo, retrieved 3 September 2009
  19. Cricinfo staff (15 September 2010), Strauss, Johnson and Gambhir lead ICC nominations, retrieved 20 August 2010
  20. Ireland squad for Bangladesh series announced, Cricket Ireland, 9 July 2010, retrieved 20 August 2010
  21. Callender, Ian (20 June 2010), O'Brien in line for Irish captaincy, Cricket Ireland, retrieved 20 August 2010
  22. ESPNcricinfo staff (15 April 2011), Regan West retires from international cricket, retrieved 18 April 2011


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