Windies announce 13-member squad for first Test

Prem Panicker

The West Indies national selectors under new chairman and former fast bowling great Wesley Hall announced a 13-member squad for the first Cable and Wireless Test against India in Jamaica, starting March 6.

The selectors, who met at the Hibiscus Room of Hotel Hilton International, Barbados, threw up one major surprise when they dropped opener Robert Samuels from the side that won the fifth Test against Australia in the recently completed series Down Under.

The five member selection committee, comprising besides Hall, Mike Findlay, Joey Carew, coach Malcolm Marshall and captain Courtney Walsh, came to Barbados fresh from watching the latest round of Red Stripe Cup matches. Walsh and Findlay came in from Jamaica, Hall and Marshall from Anguilla, and Carew from Trinidad.

The team announced is as follows: Sherwin Campbell, Stuart Williams, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara, Carl Hooper, Jimmy Adams, Junior Murray, Franklyn Rose, Ian Bishop, Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Roland Holder, Franklyn Rose and Rawle Lewis.

Given the lineup, it seems almost certain that either Holder or Lewis will be the 12th man, with the other sitting out while Franklyn Rose, a tall, strapping fast bowler rated by the likes of Michael Holding as the hottest prospect in the Caribbean today, seems almost certain to make his debut.

If we take that 11 as the one captain Walsh will lead onto the ground, then, the balance shows batsmen down to Adams at number six, Junior Murray doing the glovework and capable of getting a few with the bat as well, while the bowling attack will be Curtley Ambrose and Courtney Walsh with the new ball, followed by Rose and Bishop.

The lacuna appears to be in the spin bowling department - but Walsh will, if and when needed, rely on the services of part-timers Adams and Hooper, not to mention Chanderpaul - if only to provide a rest to the frontline quicks, and also ensure that the Windies, in the field, do not fall too far behind the over-rate.

The real surprise in the lineup is the inclusion of Stuart Williams in the opener's slot. Williams, who debuted in the home series against England in 1993-1994, played his last Test when the West Indies met England at Lord's in 1995. In the interim, he played 12 Tests for a total of 386 runs, and an average of 22.7 - not quite in the Desmond Haynes-Gordon Greenidge mould.

Interestingly, the man he replaced, the Jamaican left-hander Robert Samuels, has a much better record at least on paper, having played 6 Tests since his debut against New Zealand at Bridgetown in the 1995-96 series and totalling 372 runs, with a highest of 125, for an average of 37.20.

Samuels was unwittingly involved in controversy when, in course of his 208 run partnership for the third wicket in the first innings of the fifth Test against Australia at Perth earlier this month, he was allegedly subjected to non-stop sledging by the Aussie players.

Samuels, who scored a laboured 76 in that innings while Brian Lara blazed a century at the other end, got his revenge when, in the second innings, he smashed 35 runs off just 38 balls to take the Windies to a 10-wicket win. Subsequently, Windies vice captain Lara slammed the Aussies for sledging, saying that they had deliberately targetted a young player trying to make his mark in international cricket.

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