Born: 5/1/81 Team: Jamaica Test debut: v Australia at Adelaide, 2000/01 ODI debut: v Sri Lanka at Nairobi, 2000/01 Right-handed batsman Right-arm off-break bowler

He was still a teenager in 2000 when he was called in as a replacement for the injured Shivnarine Chanderpaul, against a rampant Australian attack in Adelaide.

In the following Test he hit an unbeaten 60 and was one of the few bright spots in a woeful tour for the Caribbean side.

His Test debut might have come before he had played a first-class game for Jamaica, but Samuels had already shined in youth and one-day cricket.

Samuels completed his maiden Test century late last year, an innings of 104 against India in Calcutta.

And he followed it with a lightning ton in the one-day series decider, 108 coming off 75 balls in an innings captain Carl Hooper describes as one of the greatest he had ever seen.

Doubts over a knee injury hampered a World Cup campaign in which he played a single match, although Samuels himself claimed to be fully fit.

But he will doubtless have a major role to play if West Indies are to compete with Australia this time around.