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Corey Collymore has had so many starts and stops in his truncated career that it is ever so difficult to assess his form and fitness. The evidence of Barbados' opening Busta match against Guyana last weekend, however, suggests that he is at the top of both areas.

Often plagued by back problems that have repeatedly interrupted his promising career, the 23-year-old fast bowler put in the kind of effort that earned him international recognition two seasons ago.

For 45 purposeful overs, Collymore bowled with heart and enthusiasm on the way to a career-best haul of six for 109, figures which should be appreciated, taking into consideration the batsman-friendly nature of the Kensington Oval pitch.

He later pronounced he was "definitely" 100 per cent fit and the lengthy spell did nothing to aggravate his back.

It was a high-class effort that would have impressed everyone watching, but Collymore said it was simply business at usual.

"It is something that I am accustomed to. I just concentrated on the day and took it over by over," he said.

"I maintained a decent line and length, contained the batsmen and let them make the mistake.

While the pacer had tongues wagging, none of his teammates could create an impression with the ball and Guyana performed the rare feat of attaining first innings points in response to a target in excess of 400.

"As the strike bowler, Barbados needed a good performance from me and I decided to take the mantle in my hands," Collymore said.

During the innings, he was engaged in a fascinating showdown with Guyana captain Carl Hooper.

Hooper, with tremendous support from around the ground, made 159, but Collymore kept him in check to the extent that he managed only 27 runs – 21 after passing his century –- off 74 balls against the Barbadian pacer. On Sunday afternoon, Collymore had two raucous appeals for lbw against Hooper turned down and there was an occasion when there were shouts of "boo" from the Kensington Stand which appeared to have been aimed at Collymore.

"I take that kind of criticism in a positive manner and put more effort into the game," was his response. "It brings the best out of me."

With most of those spectators absent on Monday's final day, Collymore returned to prise out Hooper with an unplayable delivery that squared up the batsman and knocked out his off-stump after he had been entrenched for almost 7 1/2 hours.

"Bowling at Carl was fairly difficult on that kind of surface," Collymore said. "I just tried to maintain (line and length) as much as possible. Once you contain him, you have a chance of getting him out.

"I was setting him up earlier on and I knew once I got the ball pitched, it would bring me results."

The former West Indies youth cap said his back gave him no trouble during the match.

"All I can say is that I have lost a bit of pace, but I still have my line and length going," he said adding that he made a minor change by landing his foot more chest-on instead of side-on.

Collymore was fast-tracked to make a return to first-class cricket when he was picked by the West Indies selectors for last summer's tour of England in spite of no serious cricket for about eight months.

He was troubled by niggles of one sort or another during the three-month tour in which he played six first-class matches and was ignored by the selectors for the current tour of Australia.

A productive season during the next few weeks will enhance his chances of a recall, but Collymore in not thinking that far.

"Barbados comes first. At the moment, I am thinking about my country," he said.

"We have seven (preliminary) games and we are looking to go all the way, which makes it nine. It is Barbados first and anything else after."

© The Barbados Nation