Full-strength squad announced for Australia tour

Shivnarine Chanderpaul will be returning to action this month against Australia. (Photo by WICB)

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua-THE selectors of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) have announced the team that will be touring Australia later this month and most of the region’s top cricketers are slated to make their return to international cricket.

The 15-man squad will be led by Chris Gayle and will also feature Adrian Barath, Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Brendan Nash, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor and Gavin Tonge.

The Chairman for the West Indies selectors, Clyde Butts, said that even though many of the players had been away from the international scene for some months due to contract disputes between the West Indies Players Association and the WICB, he feels they would put up the best performance against Australia.

“I believe the players selected will make positives steps forward and overall I believe the team will have positive results in Australia,” he said.
Butts added that the selectors made an effort to have a mix of bowling and batting attacks that would be most effective against the Ricky Ponting-led host.

“We have selected a balanced team … we have a quality bowling attack, and a very good batting line-up with players who have performed on the international stage. We believe the players all have the ability to deliver at the highest level.”

In terms of having Gayle return as captain, Butts told the Caribbean Media Corporation that he was decidedly head and shoulders above those being considered, including Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo and vice-captain Denesh Ramdin.

“At the end, we thought that Chris Gayle was at this time and at this moment the most suitable person to captain West Indies and take them to Australia,” he stated.

While some commentators had felt that Trinidad & Tobago’s Daren Ganga deserved a shot at the coveted skipper’s spot after leading his national squad against all odds to the finals of the Champions League Twenty20, Butts made it clear that his overall international record did not warrant him making the squad, let alone being captain.

“His name actually came up but I don't think we thought that Daren Ganga at this time would have got into a West Indies team. Looking at the history of his batting and looking at how he has batted over the past year or so in the regional tournament, I don't think he's actually made a lot of runs in the tournament.”

Apart from the players, Joel Garner was named as Team Manager and David Williams retained his position as Head Coach.

While in Australia, West Indies will enter three tests at Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth from November 26-December 20 for the Frank Worrell Trophy and will then return in February for the limited over competitions.