The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket
The West Indies Cricket Board today announced a 16-man squad for the 'A' team tour of England in July and August this year.
The squad will be captained by Sylvester Joseph and he will have Ryan Hinds as his deputy. In addition to Joseph and Hinds the squad includes nine other players with international experience.
Brian Lara's widely reported criticism of the West Indies selection panel has apparently landed the team captain in hot water.
"I've been sort of censored, told to curb my comments," Lara said on the eve of the third Test match against India in St Kitts. "It's a situation when me and the selectors aren't singing from the same hymn sheet and that's unfortunate," Lara said.
Warner Park in St Kitts created history on May 23 this year with the staging of its first ever One Day International game.
Come this Thursday, another entry will be made in the history books as the island prepares to welcome fans for the inaugural Test match to be held at the spanking new facility. With tourism replacing sugar exports as the main foreign exchange earner, the re-development of Warner Park forms part of the island's overall tourism development plan.
The International Cricket Council's (ICC) new schedule for international cricket has been labelled a disaster that will leave the world's leading players exhausted.
Tim May, the chief executive of FICA, the Federation of International Cricketers? Associations, says: "The FTP is a disaster because it puts no upper limit on the amount of cricket that can be scheduled. There are five or six guys in the five leading sides in the world who play Tests and ODIs and they are being flogged."
Five of Jamaica's top cricketers are in a quandary.
They are wondering whether to accept invitations to join a West Indies 'A' team tour of England in July and August or to stick with the Jamaica Twenty20 team in the hope of winning or at least reaching the final of the cash-rich Stanford Twenty/20 tournament which is in direct date clash with the 'A' team tour.