‘Tadpole’ to play against SA

IN WHAT is their last chance to impress the selectors before next week’s crucial third Test in Barbados, former West Indies wicket keeper Ridley Jacobs, Bajan pacemen Fidel Edwards and Tino Best and local spinner Dave ‘‘Tadpole’’ Mohammed, have been included in the UWI Vice Chancellor’s XI to oppose the South Africans at the Sir Frank Worrel ground in St Augustine today. They will be particularly keen to turn in solid performances to impress the West Indies selection panel headed by Trinidadian Michael “Joey” Carew. The four players plus some of the budding stars will represent the Vice-Chancellor’s XI against the Proteas in the two-day match which starts at 9.30 am.

In addition, Jacobs a long-standing servant to West Indies cricket, will be honoured by the UWI Vice-Chancellor’s organising committee but he also has a point to prove to the selectors that he is in better shape than incumbent ’keeper Courtney Browne, who has been one of the major disappointments in both Digicel Tests played at Bourda, Guyana and at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad. The Windies drew the first test but were soundly and roundly thrashed by Graeme Smith’s team by eight wickets. Although he was not selected for this series, Jacobs turned in a solid performance and in fact topped the 2005 Carib Beer Cricket Series aggregate including a new record four centuries by a wicketkeeper which puts him ahead off all the players in the West Indies Cricket Board’s premier regional competition.

Meanwhile, Ryan Hinds, who missed the second Test with a viral infection is tipped to rejoin the squad for the third Test in Barbados which starts on April 21. Jacqui King-Mowatt, a member of the medical panel of the West Indian board, said the mild swelling Hinds suffered because of the infection, had gone and he was feeling better. Hinds was replaced by Donovan Pagon, the Jamaican batsman, who is likely to be dropped after a nightmarish second Test in which he scored 0 and 2 and also spilled a straightforward catch.

Both Best and Edwards have resumed practice. They have been out of the Windies squad since the Test series in England last August with back injuries and returned to first-class cricket only in the latter stages of the regional Carib Beer tournament. Best has also had to remodel his action because of a persistent back problem. “It was discomfort caused mainly by the kind of boots he (Best) was wearing,” Kind-Mowatt explained. “He has been practising diligently and looks sharp and keen.”