Chanderpaul Out of ODI Squad

The West Indies selectors on Monday announced three changes to the squad for the five-match ODI series against South Africa, including the eye-raising omission of left-handed middle order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Chanderpaul, one of the team's most reliable batsman in both forms of the game, was not named in the 15-man squad and it is not clear if his omission is injury related. The four new players joining the squad are Kurt Wilkinson, Ian Bradshaw, Ryan Hurley and Ricardo Powell.

Opener Daren Ganga, fast bowler Adam Sanford and left-arm spinner Dave Mohamed were also left out.

But it was Chanderpaul's absence that comes as the biggest surprise. The 29-year-old Guyanese missed the third Test with a thigh injury but was fit enough to play in the tour match against Easterns that ended on Monday. He was passed fit to play in the final Test, so it's a stretch to imagine his omission from the ODI squad is injury-related.

The have been rumours floating around that, prior to the third Test, Chanderpaul had asked out of the remainder of the tour for personal reasons but team manager Ricky Skerritt told CaribbeanCricket.com at the time that he was unaware of such a request.

FULL ODI SQUAD:

Brian Lara (captain)
Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice captain)
Chris Gayle
Ridley Jacobs
Carlton Baugh Jr.
Dwayne Smith
Vasbert Drakes
Ravi Rampaul
Mervyn Dillon
Fidel Edwards
Corey Collymore
Ryan Hurley
Ian Bradshaw
Ricardo Powell
Kurt Wilkinson