KING, Reon Dane
D.O.B: October 06, 1975 (Demerara, Guyana)
Teams: Guyana, West Indies
Reon King was a tall, athletic paceman with a smooth rhythmic approach to the wicket (that was often compared to Michael Holding’s) who played 19 Test matches and 50 One Day Internationals for the West Indies between 1998 and 2005.
Although genuinely quick at times, many followers of the game felt that he lacked aggression and that he could have used the bouncer a lot  more during the course of his career.
On the local scene he represented the Georgetown Cricket Club and played in the regional youth tournaments in the early 1990s. His sound performances then influenced the selectors to include him in the young West Indies side that engaged England and Pakistan in 1995.
A year later, aged 21, King made his senior Guyana debut in the regional Red Stripe Cup competition and by the end of 1998 he was making his first international appearance for the West Indies against India at Dhaka in one of the semi-finals of the Wills International Cup 50 over tournament.
In a game the West Indies won handsomely by six wickets with three overs to spare the debutant did not take a wicket but bowled with immaculate control and steady pace to return figures of 10-2-26-0.
On the dismal tour to South Africa in 1998-99 which the hosts won 5-nil, he played his first Test match in the fifth and final game of the series and in all seven of the ODIs which followed.
In the Test he returned figures of 0/130 but although the limited overs series was also lost to the South Africans, 6-1, King made an impression by capturing nine wickets at 28.00 runs apiece. Even better was his economy rate of 4.06 which was the best among the bowlers and good enough to win a place in the squad to England for the 1999 World Cup.
He visited New Zealand in 1999-2000 for a two-match Test tour and had two four-wicket hauls – four for 81 at Hamilton and four for 96 at Wellington – but could not stop the Black Caps from recording comprehensive wins of nine wickets and an innings and 105 runs respectively.
By the time Zimbabwe and Pakistan were guests of the West Indies for Test engagements in 2000, King along with the Jamaican Franklyn Rose were not only being shepherded by the premier pace pair of Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose but were set to sustain the high standards of quality fast bowling set by their predecessors over the years.
In the first encounter against Zimbabwe in Trinidad he captured a solitary wicket in the game as the West Indies used their experience to sneak home by 35 runs having set the visitors a seemingly easy target of 99 runs to win.
On a bouncier surface in Jamaica he snatched his first and only five-wicket haul – five for 51 in the first innings and two for 30 in the second as the opponents were crushed by 10 wickets.
In the course of the match he bowled with great hostility and superb control and hit the deck so hard that very often the wicketkeeper was taking the ball while it was still rising.
In the three-Test series against Pakistan that followed the regional team edged home by one wicket in the last game in Antigua after the matches in Guyana and Barbados were drawn.
The ever-improving speedster netted 12 scalps in the closely fought duel at 24.25 runs each and in the process sent down a whopping 111 overs.
As such, much was expected of him on the tour to England in mid-2000 but he fell away badly through injury and a loss of form.
In fact he did not play in the final Test of the five-match rubber which the home side won 3-1 and bagged a mere eight wickets – five of which were snarled in the opening bout the West Indies won – at 30.50 apiece.
Amidst a few creditable performances for Guyana at the regional level and in ODIs for the West Indies, he toured Zimbabwe in 2001 for Tests in Bulawayo and Harare. His match figures of six for 98 in the initial game helped to crush the hosts by an innings and 176 runs and he took two for 119 in the last match which was drawn. 
He was in the international wilderness for four years but turned out for Durham in 2004 as cover for the Pakistani Shoaib Akhtar who was involved in duties for his national team during the first few weeks of the season.
Suddenly he was called up to play in the home series against South Africa and Pakistan in 2005 at the height of a contract dispute which saw several top players withholding their services.
He contested five of the six Tests and took nine expensive wickets (56.77 runs each) prompting the selectors to finally look elsewhere.
King was a genuine rabbit with the bat and a modest fielder at best although he made concerted efforts to correct the flaws during the course of his tenure at the top.
He is the current Cricket Development Officer attached to the Guyana Cricket Board and indulges in some aspects of coaching and cricket analysis from time to time.
RECORD
TESTS: 19 WKTS: 53 AVG: 32.69 BB: 5/51 v ZIM, Jamaica, 2000
ODIs: 50 WKTS: 76 AVG: 23.77 BB: 4/25 v PAK, Trinidad, 2000
(DIGICEL: Guyana’s Bigger, Better Network)