Nelon Pascal caught the national selectors' eye in his second first-class season for Windward Islands. He hit the headlines in his debut match for Windwards, jolting the Barbados top order with 4 for 70. He then spent the 2008 summer playing league cricket in Durham.

The selectors were impressed with his pace and shortly after the 2008-09 season - during which he took 25 wickets - he found a place in the Test squad for the tour of England and the home series against Bangladesh. He couldn't find a place in a starting XI in the Tests, however, and played just one ODI against Bangladesh. But consistent returns in domestic cricket kept him in the mix, and in June 2010 he made his Test debut in the rain-affected match against South Africa at Port of Spain