Sheldon Cottrell

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sheldon Cottrell

• Prior to his career as a cricketer, he was a soldier in the “Jamaican Defence Force.” Interestingly, in 2011, he was in the army workforce, which was guarding the pitch during the fifth ODI of India and West Indies at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica.

  

• He first came into the limelight in 2012, when he took 17 wickets for Jamaica in a four-day domestic level tournament.

  

• After his debut in the Carribean Premier League (CPL), he was selected for West India A team, which was set for a tournament against India. However, he had to withdraw from the team due to an injury.

  

• Cottrell made his test debut against India at Eden Gardena, Kolkata. Interestingly, it was also Sachin Tendulkar‘s last test series.

• He is known for his unique style of marching, doing an upright-salute, and then, spreading his arms after taking a wicket. During his early years as a cricketer, he used to dab after saluting, but he changed it later to spreading his arms to thank the heavens.

  

• Once, in an interview, Cottrell explained the reason for his signature salute-

It’s a military-style salute. I’m a soldier by profession. Me saluting is just to show my respect to the Jamaica Defence Force. I do it every time I get a wicket. I practised it for six months when I was training in the army”

• He was a part of the 2015 World Cup squad of West Indies. After the 2015 World Cup, he took a two-year break from ODIs after the World Cup, and he returned to playing ODIs when he was selected for an ODI series against New Zealand on 23 December 2017.

  

• Earlier, he was an inconsistent performer, and he was often dropped from the West Indies national squad for being out of form. However, it all changed after the “2018 West Indies Tour of Bangladesh” in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Cottrell played exceptionally, and he has retained his form ever since. His performance also led him to spearhead the West Indies pace attack.

  

• On 3 June 2018, during the first edition of the Global Canada T20, he was selected to play for the Vancouver Knights. Cottrell turned out to be the leading wicket-taker of the series after taking 16 wickets in 8 matches.

• In April 2019, he was named in the West Indies World Cup squad. He took 12 wickets in 9 matches, and he ended up being the leading wicket-keeper for West Indies in the 2019 World Cup.

• On 6 June 2019, during a match against Australia in the 2019 World Cup, he took a historic catch of Steve Smith, which was appreciated by players and viewers around the world. The official Twitter handle of the ICC also posted a tweet with a clip of him catching the ball.