BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - SEVERAL power hitters of the West Indies cricket team will not be participating in the upcoming tri-series competition that will see matches being played in St. Kitts and Nevis.
The West Indies Cricket Board has released the 14-man squad for the first four ODIs that the home team will square off against South Africa and Australia in three territories - St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana and Barbados.
Included in the squad are Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard, who both missed the West Indies World Cup triumph last month.
Narine pulled out of the Windies World Cup squad after remodelling his action. He had stated that he wanted to work more on his bowling action.
He was banned from bowling at all levels of the game after his action was deemed illegal, but Narine is currently playing competitive cricket in the Indian Premier League for the Kolkata Knight Riders.
On the other hand, Pollard was selected to play in the World T20 but had failed to recover in time from an injury he picked up while playing on the international T20 circuit.
The hard hitting righter-hander was one of several players overlooked by selectors over the controversial abandoned India tour in 2014. Since then, he, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy have not played one Internationals for the West Indies.
Meanwhile, Bravo, Gayle and Sammy were not in the 14 selected for the opening matches.
According to the WICB release, included in the squad are two players who are yet to play in ODIs for the West Indies. They are: off-spinner Ashley Nurse, who was a member of the West Indies team that won the ICC World T20 last month; and fast bowler Shannon Gabriel, who has played 16 Test matches.
The limited overs series bowls off from June 3 with matches at the Guyana National Stadium (June 3-7), thence to the Warner Park Cricket Stadium in St Kitts from June 11-15 and concludes at Kensington Oval in Barbados from June 19-26.
Listed below is the full squad:
Jason Holder (Captain), Sulieman Benn, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Jonathan Carter, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Shannon Gabriel, Sunil Narine, Ashley Nurse, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor.
MATCH SCHEDULE
June
Friday 3: West Indies vs South Africa – Guyana National Stadium
Sunday 5: West Indies vs Australia – Guyana National Stadium
Tuesday 7: Australia vs South Africa – Guyana National Stadium
Saturday 11: South Africa vs Australia – Warner Park
Monday 13: West Indies vs Australia – Warner Park
Wednesday 15: West Indies vs South Africa – Warner Park
Sunday 19: Australia vs South Africa – Kensington Oval
Tuesday 21: West Indies vs Australia – Kensington Oval
Friday 24: West Indies vs South Africa – Kensington Oval
Sunday 26: The Final – Kensington Oval
