Windies keep faith with youth

BRIDGETOWN: The West Indies selectors kept their faith in youth in choosing a 16-man squad for the four-Test cricket tour of England that begins next month following a triangular series of One-Day Internationals. The Test team was officially announced yesterday. The six-week tour begins with a three-day fixture against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Arundel from July 13-15. The Brian Lara-led side has only four players who are over 25, with the bowling department being particularly inexperienced.

Left-arm seamer Pedro Collins, at 27 and with 80 wickets in 24 Tests, leads a pace attack in which all five members are making their first senior tour to England. The 22-year-olds Tino Best, Fidel Edwards and Jermaine Lawson and 19-year-old Ravi Rampaul complete the fast bowling armory. There is no room for the experienced Corey Collymore and Mervyn Dillon, both of whom have been named as reserves. Collins is one of four players who join the Test squad after missing out on selection for the one-dayers in England. He is joined by his half brother Edwards, expected to be fully fit after a hamstring strain, Omari Banks and Sylvester Joseph. Ricardo Powell, Ian Bradshaw and Darren Sammy will miss out after the July 10 completion of the NatWest triangular one-day series, which includes the West Indies, England and New Zealand. That series starts June 24.

Banks, who turns 22 next month, is the only specialist slow bowler in the squad. The six-foot-five-inch (1.93-metre) all-rounder recently enjoyed a successful return after  rehabilitation from a stress fracture of his back, taking six wickets in the final Test against Bangladesh in Jamaica last week. All-rounder Dwayne Bravo, already in the one-day party, will remain in Britain while batsman Joseph is recalled. Both players will be on their first full tours with the Test team and are rewarded for impressive 2004 home seasons. The 20-year-old Bravo collected 481 runs and 28 wickets in seven Carib Beer Series regional matches for Trinidad and Tobago. The right-handed batsman and medium pacer also impressed when given a chance in the One-Day Internationals against England and Bangladesh this year.

Joseph, 25, notched 517 runs for the Leeward Islands and  ended the season on a high with a century off the touring Bangladeshis for the West Indies Board XI. Veteran wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs, at 36 in the twilight  of his career, is given backup in the form of 21-year-old Carlton Baugh Jr.  The batting is expected to be the strength of the team, with world record holder Lara leading the lineup. The 35-year-old is on his fourth Test tour of England, a  team against whom he boasts a formidable record. His last innings against the Englishmen in April brought him a record 400 not out, and he has scored 2,719 runs at an average of 68 in 26 matches. Lara’s main support will come from openers Chris Gayle and Devon Smith and in the middle order Shivnarine Chanderpaul,  Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Smith.

The one concern for the West Indies is the lack of a genuine third opener as backup to the incumbents, left-handers Gayle and Smith. West Indies squad: Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice-captain), Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo, Sylvester Joseph, Ridley Jacobs, Carlton Baugh Jr., Omari Banks, Tino Best, Fidel Edwards, Pedro Collins, Jermaine Lawson, Ravi Rampaul.

Reserves: Corey Collymore, Darren Sammy, Mervyn Dillion, Dave Mohammed.
Coach: Gus Logie. Manager: Tony Howard. Trainer: Ronald Rogers. Physiotherapist: Andrew Simpson. Analyst: Garfield Smith. Media liaison officer: Imran Khan.