Legspinner Rawl Lewis had an undistinguished entry to Test cricket. In his first three Tests for West Indies, he bowled 97.3 overs. Of those 585 balls, only one brought him a wicket, of South Africa's wicketkeeper Mark Boucher, caught by Brian Lara in Johannesburg in 1998-99.

That single strike had cost Lewis 318 runs. For a time he captained Windward Islands in the Red Stripe Bowl but rather than develop as a player as he got older, his form dropped away. He looked destined to go down in history as one of the most ineffective bowlers in Test history until he got a second chance when he was picked for the 2006 tour of New Zealand.

He came into contention on the basis of decent performances at the domestic level. In the 2005-06 first-class season he picked 24 wickets at 17.54 and in the season before that he grabbed 32 wickets at 26.43. Another recall came during the tour of South Africa in 2007-08. There was room for one more in 2009, against Bangladesh, when the senior players went on strike.