THE VAL­LEY- All­rounder Omari Banks, An­guil­la's first and on­ly Test play­er, has an­nounced his re­tire­ment from the pro­fes­sion­al game. The 29-year-old Banks is the son of the well-known An­guil­lan reg­gae singer and mu­si­cian, Bankie Banx. Over the last 12 months, Banks has been work­ing hard on his mu­sic and feels now is the right time to leave the game and pur­sue his pas­sion for mu­sic. His first sin­gle, Move On, will be part of his fa­ther's up­com­ing al­bum, Just Cool, due to be re­leased on March 6. Banks said that he was hum­bled by the sup­port he had re­ceived through­out the years – both lo­cal­ly in An­guil­la and through­out the World. He ex­pressed heart­felt thanks to his fam­i­ly for their sup­port and fans glob­al­ly for mak­ing the game what it is.

Banks rep­re­sent­ed West In­dies in ten Tests, scor­ing 318 runs and bag­ging 28 wick­ets, with a best bowl­ing at the Test lev­el of four for 87. Banks av­er­aged 25.5 at the first-class lev­el and took 204 first-class wick­ets. He al­so av­er­aged 26.5 with the bat at Test lev­el. He was a past cap­tain and vice cap­tain of Lee­ward Is­lands and a top per­former for his na­tive An­guil­la in the sub-re­gion­al cham­pi­onship. Banks is prob­a­bly best known at the Test lev­el for his grit­ty bat­ting as a rook­ie in a match-win­ning in­nings, help­ing West In­dies com­plete the high­est suc­cess­ful fourth in­nings chase in Test his­to­ry of 418 for sev­en to beat the Aus­tralians in his de­but se­ries in An­tigua.