Chanderpaul dropped for Fourth Test

BRIDGETOWN: Experienced batsman Shivnarine Chander-paul was dropped from the West Indies cricket team for this week’s fourth and final Test against England in Antigua,  cricket officials said yesterday. Chanderpaul is the only casualty from the squad after last Saturday’s eight-wicket defeat in the Third Test gave England a winning 3-0 lead in the four-match Cable and Wireless series,  according to a statement from the West Indies Cricket Board.

Officials called up Antiguan Sylvester Joseph for the first time since the tour of Australia in 2000-2001, when he played the last of his four One-Day Internationals. The 25-year-old right-hander has not yet played Tests, but topscored with 36 and 50 against the Englishmen in the First-Class match preceding the Third Test. Chanderpaul was second to captain Brian Lara in terms of experience in the team. The left-hander also boasted the second best career batting average behind Lara, with 4,647 runs at 42.24 in 74 Tests.

But he, like many of the other batsmen on the side, have struggled for runs, as the West Indies was bowled out for 311, 47, 208, 209, 224 and 94 in the three losing Tests.  The Guyanese left-hander compiled his only half-century of the series, an even 50 in the first innings at Kensington Oval, but totalled only 101 runs (average 16.23) in six innings. The West Indies will travel today to Antigua aiming to avoid a first-ever clean sweep in the Caribbean by taking the last Test, which begins on Saturday.

West Indies squad: captain Brian Lara, Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Smith, Ryan Hinds, Ricardo Powell, Ridley Jacobs, Sylvester Joseph, Tino Best, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards. (AP)