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The former West Indies youth captain has recently been enjoying the best run of his truncated first-class career. But he knows it can be a short-lived experience.

He is fully aware that when five of his fellow Jamaicans on West Indies duty are available for the Busta Cup, he will face the possibility of losing his place. It has often happened in the past, but he is not bothered that he might have to step aside once more.

'It's always at the back of your mind (that I could be dropped), but I've learnt that you need to try and get rid of it because at the end of the day, we are all Jamaicans and we are all playing for one goal - to win the competition,' he said.

'If I'm not good enough to be in the team when the others come back, I just want to make sure that I've helped my team to as many points as possible.'

The diminutive 25-year-old has been picked as a specialist batsman, a selection that would have been in question had so many Jamaicans not been available at the start of the season.

The unavailability of Jimmy Adams, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels, Ricardo Powell and to a lesser extent Laurie Williams and Courtney Walsh surely paved the way for Breese to be in the line-up for the defending champions' first few matches.

His right-handed batting, however, has been undistinguished in the tournament so far, his three innings yielding scores of 1, 1 and 6.

His supposedly support off-spin bowling has been a revelation.

In the scheme of things, Breese was Jamaica's third-choice spinner behind the seasoned off-spinner Nehemiah Perry and rookie left-arm spinner Ryan Cunningham.

Early season statistics show otherwise.

His off-spin may seem uncomplicated, but it has earned him 15 wickets, including a nine-wicket Man-Of-The-match performance against Barbados at Kensington Oval last weekend.

His bowling was always a useful part of his game and when he came to Barbados for the 1994 Nortel youth championship as the Jamaica captain, he won the Most Valuable Player award on the strength of his 323 runs (ave. 40.37) and 19 wickets (ave 12.78) in five matches.

But has his bowling gone ahead of his batting since those days?

'In terms of performances, yes, but I won't say so,' said Breese, captain of the West Indies Under-19 team that toured Pakistan in 1995.

'I think I am playing the role as all-rounder in the team. I haven't been getting any runs, but I've been trying to do my part with the ball.'

'It's come off so I'm just hoping that it keeps going to the rest of the season.'

Breese, who made his first-class debut in 1996 at Kensington Oval, also pointed to what might be responsible for his lean run with the bat.

'I'd just say sometimes I'm just a bit too tentative at the start,' said the Lucas club member who has a first-class century against English county, Lancashire and a first-class batting average in the early 20s.

'I'm a bit too anxious, but I'm not really worried about it because I'm getting performances elsewhere. It's just now to get the confidence from my bowling and take it into my batting.'

© The Barbados Nation