BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — When West Indies pacer Jerome Taylor returns to competitive cricket Saturday it will be with the full approval of his coach Ottis Gibson.

Taylor has been in-active since the tour of Australia last year when he limped out of the first Test after bowling nine overs in Brisbane.

Gibson told a media conference Tuesday that the 25-year-old Jamaican quickie impressed him with his work ethic during the recent 10-day camp here at the 3Ws Oval and would be reading for the upcoming World Twenty20 Championship in the Caribbean.

“There have been some issues about his fitness and having seen him last week and seen the level that he is training, I’ve given him a ‘back to bowling programme’,” said Gibson, a former West Indies fast bowler.

Gibson added that with Taylor’s work ethic, once he keeps on track he believed he would be match fit by their opening T20 match of the April 30 to May 16 tournament.

“Once he follows the programme, I am pretty confident that when we get to Guyana for the first game, we won’t have any issues with regards to his fitness,” he asserted.

Taylor, the spearhead of the Windies attack when fit, has had a troubled history of injury and has often struggled for fitness.

Gibson, who played two Tests and 15 One-Day Internationals, cautioned Taylor to temper his enthusiasm to ensure his rehabilitation is gradual.

“He needs to still take it a little bit easy at the moment but leading up to this period going into Jamaica now and leading into Guyana, I am pretty sure that he’ll be fine to play the first game,” Gibson said.

Taylor’s first taste of competitive cricket in almost four months will be on home soil when West Indies face Canada in the Jamaica Cricket Association festival on Saturday.