Endowed with a tall, strong physique coupled with a high arm action, Mervyn Dillon was expected to take over the baton from Walsh. Dillon was not lightning quick but relied on his nagging accuracy and ability to curl the ball back in. The pace merchant was handed his Test debut against India in Trinidad in the 1996/97 season. Playing understudy to Walsh and Ambrose, he collected 3 wickets. He registered his career best Test bowling figures against the same opposition in 2002, taking 5/72, bowling West Indies to a remarkable series win.

He just played one game in West Indies' title winning campaign in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, claiming 5/29 versus Bangladesh, his finest display in ODIs, before an ill-fated injury ruled him out of the tournament. However, such performances were sporadic, interspersed between a volley of mediocre ones.

The Trinidad and Tobago bowler featured in 38 Tests and 108 ODIs, pouching 131 and 130 wickets respectively. His chequered international career could have been a much brighter one though, for he had most of the ingredients to become a go-to strike bowler. With the younger crop of Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards outpacing him emphatically aside from lending that spark to the West Indies bowling attack, Dillion was sent tumbling out of the team.

He played his last international match in 2005 after which he ventured into the Indian Cricket League.

By Deivarayan Muthu