At a time when many a fast bowler is beginning to wind down, if not actually hang up his boots, David Gibbs is defying the trend to make his international debut.

Ironically, Somerset bowler Gibbs, a 32-year-old Jamaican, is likely to make that first appearance in the Red Stripe Bowl this Wednesday against the country of his birth and the one he was brought up in until he was 15.

It is a scenario that, five months ago, would have been unlikely to make an appearance during Gibbs' sleeping hours -- let alone his waking ones.

"It's something that, at the beginning of the season, I couldn't even have dreamed about,'' says Gibbs, a former Commercial League bowler with Jamaican Association.

But he was invited to play Premier League cricket by Somerset at the beginning of the year and responded by taking 26 wickets at an average of just under 20.

Still, that might not have been sufficient to earn him a call-up to the Bermuda squad this week, had it not been for the presence of Bermuda Cricket Board of Control president El James at a Knockout Cup game in which Gibbs was playing.

"He saw the game and was very impressed,'' recalls Gibbs, who is almost certain to open his adopted country's attack at Alpart, a picturesque ground about 90 miles west of the capital Kingston later this week.

Gibbs' first memories of playing cricket are of times in the back streets of Kingston where young bowlers, in imitation of West Indian greats like Michael Holding and Joel Garner, would remove the covers from balls to get more bounce.

"I would have been a spinner compared to those guys,'' he states modestly, but nevertheless his presence in the Bermuda squad has created quite a stir in his native land.

However, the conflicts of his role are something he tries to play down.

"There's the saying: `You can take the man out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the man'. I'm a proud Jamaican but I've been in Bermuda for 16 years.

"I support Jamaica when I go down there, but I'm going to be representing Bermuda, I will do so with pride and dignity and I'm very thankful and honoured to be given the opportunity. And I'll be looking to put one over on Jamaica.

"My parents told me my name was on the radio last week, so the Jamaicans will be looking out for me as well.

"I don't think I'm the only Jamaican to go back and play against them so I don't think they'll necessarily be extra fired up against me. I don't think it will make much difference.

"It'll just be an honour to play against some of those guys.

And, adds the 6ft 4ins paceman, who admits his first love was football: "It's not going to be easy but I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself.

"I'm going to do my best and if that's not good enough, so be it.''