It was pleasing to see the recent announcement by Cricket West Indies of 10 fast bowlers — including a few who are genuinely quick — being named for a two-month camp in Antigua which started yesterday.

Make no mistake about it, if the West Indies are to win upcoming home Test series against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and carry on competitively through the rest of the year to the World Cup in England in 2019, they need express pace.

It seemed to me that the most glaring weakness afflicting West Indies in their World Cup qualifying campaign in Zimbabwe was the absence of a genuinely quick bowler.

Some people seem to believe that in limited overs’ cricket, bowling units should be primarily concerned with economy rates. That’s foolishness. To win games consistently cricket teams need wicket takers and in the absence of mystery spinners such as Sunil Narine, West Indies must rely on high pace. It’s been proven repeatedly that even when speed merchants leak runs, they are likely to take wickets.

In Zimbabwe, the left-armer Sheldon Cottrell who is capable of high pace on occasions, broke down early and had to return home. And since his shoulder injury of a few years ago, Kemar Roach is no longer genuinely quick, though he remains a high-class performer.

I remain puzzled as to why Shannon Gabriel wasn’t in that squad in Zimbabwe. I have heard it said that he wasn’t fit. That doesn’t make sense to me since he played in the regional Super50 tournament in February. Gabriel should have gone ahead of leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo who hardly factored in the qualifying tournament.

Having chosen not to take Gabriel, and with Alzarri Joseph injured, the selectors still had options, among them the experienced Miguel Cummins, though as it turned out, he also fell to injury at the end of the Super50.

The decision to replace the injured Cottrell with the talented fast medium 20-year-old Keemo Paul was perhaps motivated by the latter’s genuine batting ability. To me though, it smacked of selectors hedging their bets. In my view the choice should have been someone with genuine pace as well as good all-round skills, such as Romario Shepherd.

All that said, the 10 selected for the Antiguan fast bowling camp represent a good mix of testing pace and talented fast medium swing and seam.

They are Dominic Drakes, Chemar Holder, Keon Joseph, Sherman Lewis, Jeremiah Louis, Keemo Paul, Raymon Reifer, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Oshane Thomas.

* Left arm medium pacer Reifer, 26, played a single Test for West Indies in England last year and showed up as an admirable competitor with bat and ball. The Barbadian has also done well at first class level for the Guyana franchise. However, my impression is that he will have to bring more in terms of swing/seam and aggression if he is to succeed in international cricket.

• Another 26 year-old Keon Joseph has bowled with pace and aggression for Guyana in recent seasons often on spin-friendly wickets. He was impressive for West Indies A aginst Sri Lanka A last year in Jamaica but seemed jaded against England Lions in early 2018 as spinners dominated. Joseph should be high up in the selectors’ reckoning with the Sri Lankans due next month. A major minus has been his lethargy in the field.

• The left-arm 20-year-old Drakes, son of former West Indies fast bowler Vasbert Drakes, has played just one first class game. That was against Jamaica at the tail end of the regional first class season earlier this year. He combined with three other impressive young fast bowlers to dismiss Jamaica for a second innings 133 as Barbados romped to an easy win on a pace-friendly Kensington Oval pitch. Incredibly, Jamaica played just two seamers in that game, leaving their fastest bowlers Thomas and Reynard Leveridge at home.

• Another 20-year-old, the right-arm fast Holder was a late arrival for the triumphant West Indies Under-19 team in Bangladesh two years ago — replacing an injured Obed McCoy — but still came away as one of the stars of that tournament. Like Drakes, Holder was among the quartet which destroyed the Jamaica batting in January. In two first class games, Holder has taken 10 wickets at 21 each.

• I have not seen him but knowledgable observers say Lewis of the Windward Islands is among the more talented young fast bowlers around. He has 37 wickets in 14 first class games. He was selected for the West Indies A against England Lions earlier this year but was withdrawn because of injury.

• Louis, 22, is a genuine swing bowler who impressively helped the Leeward Islands Hurricanes to victory over Jamaica Scorpions in a low-scoring day/night game at Sabina Park in early 2017. He has 73 wickets in 32 first class matches. Brought in as replacement for Lewis against England Lions, Louis was disappointing, struggling badly with his line.

• The 20-year-old fast medium Paul was a star of the 2016 Under-19 World Cup and has stepped up to the first class level for Guyana in style, hardly missing a beat. Decent control and ability to swing and seam the ball about at lively fast medium, has seen him capture 54 first class wickets at 17 each. Also he is a good enough batsman to have already made a first class hundred. A replacement for the injured Cottrell during the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe, Paul did little wrong. If he stays focused, the sky is the limit for Keemo Paul.

• The 23-year-old Shepherd bowled with impressive pace when he made his debut for Guyana against Jamaica at Sabina in 2017. He has progressed well with 26 wickets in nine matches. Shepherd’s batting average of 20.22 is no fluke. He can bat.

• The big-shouldered 21-year-old Smith with two first class games has attracted attention with high pace from a nine-step run. In Jamaican domestic cricket he is one of the hardest hitters around. On first class debut against Trinidad and Tobago in December, Smith smashed 54 off 27 balls with seven sixes.

• Thomas made his first class debut with a bang as a 19-year-old in 2016, dismissing former West Indies opener and prolific Windward Islands opener Devon Smith with his first ball. His startling pace lit up the CPL in 2017 — famously dismissing Chris Gayle for a ‘duck’. Wickets in first class cricket weren’t so easy to get in 2017/18 but for West Indies A, Thomas tormented Sri Lanka A batsmen with his extreme pace at the Trelawny Stadium and again at Sabina Park late last year.

There are a few other pace men around who will be wondering why they weren’t part of this group for the camp in Antigua. One such is the 27-year-old Reynard Leveridge. In my view, he was shabbily treated by the Jamaica Scorpions’ selectors towards the end of the recent first class season, but perhaps the unkindest cut was his omission from the regional Super 50 squad.

This, although he was easily the most exciting young fast bowler in the 2017 tournament. In February, even as the Jamaica franchise struggled in the Super50 tournament in the Eastern Caribbean, Leveridge was bowling superbly for a Jamaica Select team against England Lions at Sabina, testing the visitors with beautifully lined leg cutters at high pace.

Unfortunately, enhanced anti-crime measures including states of emergency kept Leveridge’s team, Jamaica Defence Force, out of the recently ended Senior Cup. Hopefully, he has the mental strength to stay focused.