Austin Richards wins ODI call-up

Thu, Jun 14, '07

 

Antiguan batsman Austin Richards has won a call-up to the West Indies side for the ODI and 20/20 matches in the UK and Ireland.

The 23-year-old Richards, who averages 37.88 in his fledgling first-class career, was included in a 14-man squad that will be captained by Chris Gayle. Richards is the only new boy in the side, which sees the return of Dwayne Smith and Lendl Simmons, two players who played in the Cricket World Cup 2007 tournament.

There is no place in the squad for a spinner and the decision to leave out Corey Collymore and Jerome Taylor could be seen as a surprise.

Ravi Rampaul, who is nursing an injury and was ruled out of contention for the final two Tests against England, is one of three new-ball bowlers. The other two are Fidel Edwards and Daren Powell.

There was no place in the side for Kieron Pollard, the teenage Trinidad & Tobago batsman who was included in the World Cup squad.

FULL SQUAD:

Chris Gayle (captain)
Shiv Chanderpaul (vice-captain)
Dwayne Bravo
Fidel Edwards
Runako Morton
Daren Powell
Denesh Ramdin
Ravi Rampaul
Austin Richards Jr.
Darren Sammy
Marlon Samuels
Lendl Simmons
Devon Smith
Dwayne Smith

The WICB said the captain and vice-captain are appointed only until the end of the present tour of the UK and Ireland.