Rampaul in Squad to Zimbabwe
Sun, Oct 19, '03
Trinidad & Tobago pacer Ravi Rampaul has bowled his way onto the West Indies Test squad for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe.
Coming off spectacular seasons in both the TCL Under-19 and Red Stripe Bowl competitions, the 19-year-old Rampaul clinched a spot in the squad ahead of Jamaica's Daren Powell. A WICB source told CaribbeanCricket.com the 16-man was named only for the Test matches on the Zimbabwe tour.
The selectors will likely fly out specialist ODI cricketers for the one-day matches and reserve the right to make changes for the team to South Africa, the source said.
Even if Rampaul is retained for the South Africa series which immediately follows, his place in the West Indies senior team will not harm his chances of playing in the Under-19 Youth World Cup next February.
The South Africa tour (Tests and ODIs) end on January 20th, 2004 and the Youth World Cup does not start until February 9th, the WICB official explained.
The squad released late Saturday was largely predictable although the absence of opener Devon Smith did raise some eyebrows. Ramnaresh Sarwan was retained as Brian Lara's deputy.
The WICB also confirmed an exclusive CaribbeanCricket.com report that former pacer Kenny Benjamin would serve as bowling coach for the tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The West Indies squad will arrive in Antigua for a pre-tour camp. The camp will involve mostly mental preparations and will open with a dinner addressed by new WICB president Teddy Griffith. The squad leaves for Zimbabwe on October 25.
FULL SQUAD FOR ZIMBABWE: (Test matches only)
Brian Lara (captain)
Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice captain)
Chris Gayle
Wavell Hinds
Daren Ganga
Shiv Chanderpaul
Marlon Samuels
Ridley Jacobs
Carlton Baugh
Omari Banks
Vasbert Drakes
Jerome Taylor
Corey Collymore
Fidel Edwards
Ravi Rampaul
Merv Dillon
Ricky Skerritt (manager), Gus Logie (head coach), Kenny Benjamin (assistant coach - bowling), Sunet Liebenberg (physiotherapist), Ronald Rogers (trainer), Garfield Smith (analyst).