GAYLE
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE JAMAICA Cricket Association (JCA) has named a strong 15-man squad, including eight Test players, for next Tuesday's one-day international between the touring Indian team and Jamaica, which will be played at Jarrett Park.
In making the announcement at a press conference in Montego Bay yesterday, Brian Breese, cricket operations manager of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), said there was a chance that one or two of the West Indies players name in the squad might not participate in the game.
"The West Indies team will be playing the Indians two days after the Montego Bay game so the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) could well ask one or two of the players named to sit out the game," said Breese.
"Nonetheless, it should be a very strong Jamaican team going up against the Indians."
The full squad is Wavell Hinds (captain), Chris Gayle, Donovan Pagon, Marlon Samuels, Daren Powell, Jerome Taylor, Nikita Miller, Carlton Baugh Jr., Jermaine Lawson, Tamar Lambert, Bevon Brown, Danza Hyatt, Andrew Richardson, Damion Ebanks and Donovan Sinclair.
Asked to explain the omission of young West Indian players, opening batsman Xavier Marshall and fast bowler Dwight Washington - who hails from Montego Bay - Breese said Marshall is ineligible by virtue of being on suspension from his
parish team while Washington was unavailable because he was away in the United States.
"Young Washington would most certainly be under consideration for this game but he is away in the United States at this time," said Breese. "We are in touch with him and he is still very much a part of the national programme."
The Rahul Squ Indian team is poised to get a warm welcome in Montego Bay, as the city's Indian community is integrally involved in the preparations to host them in the western city.
- Adrian Frater
