J'ca Picks Teenage Spinner

After impressive performances in the regional Under-19 tournament, leg spinner Alton Beckford has been rewarded with a place in Jamaica's 14-man squad for the upcoming regional one day tournament to be held in Barbados.

Chairman of Selectors, Ruddy Williams, said Beckford's performance was superior to the other spinners invited to trials. These included Odean Brown, Bevon Brown and Andre Dwyer.

"It is good to really see a youngster lift his game and surpass the others that were around before him. To my mind, the leg-spinners before him who are a little older seem to be there still at the same level, while he's going around them and getting to a higher level," Williams said.

The 18-year-old former St Elizabeth Technical High School student said he was "extremely surprised" and happy at the same time because of all the hard work he said done.

"I've been working for this, you'd have to say my whole life and I finally reached one of my major milestones." It was not the first time that Beckford had been to trials. As a 16-year-old, he was a part of the trial squad in 2003 but failed to gain a place. He missed out on an invitation last year due to below par performance, according to Williams.

He is hoping that the experience of playing at the regional level will help him ahead of the camp for the 20 West Indies under-19 players to be held in Trinidad in December. "I am just looking forward to going to Barbados and do what I did to get there and hopefully it will pay off for me, along with the hard training," said a beaming Beckford.

Beckford is one of two changes made to the team which failed to get past the first round of last year's competition. Fast bowler Andrew Richardson makes a return to the one day squad, after being forced to miss last year's tournament due to a back injury. Before that, he had played one limited overs match for Jamaica in the then-named Red Stripe Bowl in 2003. They replace fast bowler Evon McInnis and batsman Brenton Parchment.

Wavell Hinds, who took over the captaincy for the last four day tournament which saw Jamaica taking the double, has been retained as captain for the one day squad.

Notably absent is fast bowler Jerome Taylor, who, although named to attend a West Indies players' camp ahead of the tournament, was not available for selection based on a directive from the Jamaica Cricket Board, according to Williams.

The full squad reads:-

1. Wavell Hinds (Captain)
2. Christopher Gayle
3. Tamar Lambert
4. Xavier Marshall
5. Marlon Samuels
6. Carlton Baugh Jr (wkpr)
7. David Bernard Jr
8. Gareth Breese
9. Nikita Miller
10. Daren Powell
11. Andrew Richardson
12. Dwight Washington
13. Danza Hyatt
14. Alton Beckford

Four reserves were also named. They are Dwight Stewart, Keith Hibbert, Bevon Brown and Brenton Parchment.

The tournament begins on 3 October with Jamaica facing the Leeward Islands, Barbados up against Guyana and defending champions Trinidad & Tobago taking on the Windward Islands. The Final Four round shifts to Guyana from 12 ? 16 October with reserve days allocated for both the semi finals and finals.