WI players for B’dos camp

Two West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) officials said that plans were being put in place for the camp, which is slated for the 3Ws Oval.

The side will assemble for the six days and then break up as the six regional sides play in the President’s Cup.

Three days after the regional one-day competition is concluded, the West Indies will leave for Australia where there will have another camp to get acclimatised to the conditions Down Under.

The camp in Barbados is expected to be similar to the one last December ahead of the side’s participation in the VB Series tri-nation tournament.

Fitness and mental readiness is expected again to be the central components.

In another move by the WICB, there will be a day-long seminar for all the players from the six teams in the President’s Cup, just before the tournament bowls off.

One official said the WICB was hoping that the best team, including star players Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle, would be available to face the Australians in the three Tests.

However, he could not shed any light on the state of negotiations with the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA), but was confident Shivnarine Chanderpaul would be retained as captain.

The West Indies were without several key players on the recent trip to Sri Lanka when they lost 2-0 in the Test series. After payment disputes with WIPA, the WICB was forced to field a second-string team, which performed creditably, but the Australian authorities and players have long indicated they would be disappointed if the high-profile players were not available.

The tour opens on October 27 with a four-day match against Queensland in Brisbane.

The Tests will be at the Gabba (November 3 to 7), Bellerive Oval, Tasmania (November 17 to 21) and Adelaide Oval (November 25 to 29).

Another four-day match, against Victoria, will be played between the first and second Tests from November 11-14.