West Indies have named a 15 man squad for the upcoming ODI series against Australia. Ramnaresh Sarwan gets a recall into the national team after a gap of 18 months but there is no place for Marlon Samuels.
The last time Sarwan played for the West Indies was against India in the second Test at Barbados in July 2011. However, the 32 year old has an ODI average of 43 and he will have a chance to start afresh when the first ODI against Australia begins at Perth on February 1st.
Sarwan has had problems with his fitness and has also been in disagreement with the team’s administrators. He has a solid record in ODIs, having played 173 games and scored 5644 runs.
The omission of Marlon Samuels has been on fitness grounds. He was recently in the news during the Australian Big Bash League when he clashed with Shane Warne. In the same match, Samuels was injured in the eye socket when he was hit by a Lasith Malinga bouncer. Also, There is no place for veteran batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who signed a two year contract with Derbyshire. Narsingh Deonarine, who featured in the Test series against Australia and New Zealand in early 2012, is also not part of the team.
Darren Sammy will lead the team and Dwayne Bravo, who returns after injury, will assume the role of the vice-captain. West Indies play five ODIs and a T20I against Australia. The first ODI starts on February 1st at Perth, followed by another ODI at the same venue on Feb 4th. The action then shifts to the new Manuka Oval in Canberra, followed by ODIs at Melbourne and Sydney. The tour ends on February 13th with a T20I at Brisbane.
West Indies squad for Australia:
Darren Sammy (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice captain), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Narsingh Deonarine, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Thomas.
