West Indies v England: Nkrumah Bonner's superb return to international cricket after a decade out

West Indies batter Nkrumah Bonner's career is one of a high that came too soon before a low that lasted too long.

The 33-year-old, who hit a fine century in the drawn first Test against England last week, made his international debut in T20 cricket in 2011 having played just four professional games in the format.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, two poor performances against England and Australia followed and Bonner would not get a sniff of international cricket again for almost a decade, during which he went to work in construction in the United States.

Bonner says he «sometimes» wondered whether cricket was not for him.

He adds: «There have been ups and downs but I always kept the faith and finally it's paid off.»

Since making his Test debut in February 2021 against Bangladesh, Bonner has made two centuries in 10 matches at an average of 49.2. His career is at an all-time high.

«During that 10-year period when I was out, there was a lot of work I put in mentally, physically and technically and I'm really happy to be reaping the rewards now,» he says.

«I'm more experienced now, I understand my game a lot better.

»I always had that belief I could play international cricket. Obviously sometimes the belief goes down a little bit but I kept working and I'm really happy to have come back."

After several poor seasons with his native Jamaica, Bonner moved to Leeward Islands where he was unable to turn around his form and after two and half seasons he was released.

Rather than return home, Bonner moved to the United States and took a nine-to-five job in construction and has previously said he thought it was the end of his career.

However, he got «fed up» and decided to move back to Jamaica to «do what I love».

A switch was flipped. Bonner had