No simple return for four

If Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell or Sunil Narine ever play international cricket again, it will be only after they have formally demonstrated they have an interest in playing for the regional side.

Yesterday Cricket West Indies announced a 15-man squad for the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe minus the four after they opted to make themselves unavailable. The quartet have chosen instead to play in the Pakistan Super League which runs at the same time as the qualifiers.

The qualifiers, which begin on March 1, will represent a last opportunity for the West Indies to qualify for the World Cup. They missed out on automatic qualification to the premier event after falling outside of the world’s top eight by the September 30 deadline. In order to make an appearance at the global tournament in England next year the Windies, two-time champions, must now finish in the top two from the ten-team qualifier.

While insisting that the player’s decision to skip the tournament was respected, Cricket West Indies chief executive officer Johnny Grave insisted they could no longer be considered as automatic choices. He told the SportsMax Zone television programme that the four would in the future have to tell CWI if they were interested in playing for the West Indies.