Coach aims to refresh WI players

ST JOHN’S: West Indies head coach Bennett King says he will be working to refresh the West Indies cricketers when the 14-man squad assembled in Barbados on Tuesday for a camp in preparation for the upcoming Digicel series against South Africa. The West Indies team was recently selected for the First Test against South Africa starting next Thursday, after a protracted row over the eligibility of several key players including former captain Brian Lara.

In a WICB release on Tuesday, King said that he would continue to focus primarily on skills development and on working to “freshen the players” most of whom had just come out of an 11-week domestic competition. “There are still spots on the team to be decided,” King added. The 14-member squad will be under the guidance of King and his staff at the Three Ws Oval of the UWI Cave Hill Campus, before leaving for Guyana next Tuesday. King, whose first tour with the West Indies team was the VB Triangular Series in Australia earlier this year, will be joined at the camp by assistant coach, David Moore; technical consultant, Sir Garfield Sobers and physiotherapist Stephen Partridge. A squad of 12 will go on to Guyana for the first Test.

The squad: Shivnarine Chander-paul (captain), Courtney Browne (vice captain), Wavell Hinds, Devon Smith, Donavon Pagon, Narsingh Deonarine, Darren Ganga, Ryan Hinds, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins, Dwight Washington, Darren Powell, Jerome Taylor, Reon King. (CMC)