Simmons out

Experienced batsman Lendl Simmons has become the fourth player named in the original West Indies 15-man squad to pull out of the imminent ICC World Twenty20 Championship in India.

Well-placed sources told Barbados TODAY that the 31-year-old Simmons is apparently nursing a back injury and missed the current West Indies camp in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after quietly returning to his native Trinidad and Tobago for treatment, having just recently played in the inaugural Pakistan Super League for Karachi Kings, also in Dubai.

According to the sources, Simmons was told by a specialist doctor in Port-of-Spain that he was not fit enough to play in the March 8 to April 3 tournament, which West Indies won four years ago in Sri Lanka.

Simmons’ withdrawal has left the Clive Lloyd-chaired selection panel fairly busy debating his replacement.