The 25-year-old was named yesterday in a 13-man T&T squad for the opening match of the WICB four-day first class competition against Combined Campuses and Colleges starting next week.
Kelly, good enough to play for the West Indies ‘A’ team a few seasons ago, played a single match for T&T in their opening match of last season’s four-day tournament in February earlier this year before being inexplicably dropped.
He scored 24 and captured two for 31 in the first innings, and followed up with none for 27 in the second, in the drawn encounter at the Frank Worrell Memorial Ground here.
Kelly will form part of the fast bowling attack spearheaded by West Indies pacer Ravi Rampaul and which also includes Reyad Emrit, who played two One-Day Internationals for West Indies nearly three years ago.
The selectors have also chosen the spin trio of off-spinners Amit Jaggernauth and Sunil Narine, along with seasoned left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed to complement the bowling attack.
The squad will be led by Daren Ganga but will miss four key players as all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and hard-hitting batsman Kieron Pollard are campaigning in Australia’s Twenty20 Big Bash while young batting stars Adrian Barath and Darren Bravo have been sidelined through injury.
Chairman of the national selection panel Dudnath Ramkessoon said despite the loss of the four players, the team would still prove a very strong unit.
“Although the four players are very good the team remains a very strong one,” he pointed out.
“We have enough depth in there to make up for the loss of the other players and I am confident the team will do very well for Trinidad and Tobago.
“The young players who are getting a chance to play must use this chance to the fullest. When the others return they would be included in the team, so what the guys have to do is to do well, so that they are assured of a place as we go along.”
Ganga, who showed excellent form in the Gerry Gomez North/South Classic with 90 and 105 not out, will be joined in the batting department by his brother Sherwin who also stroked a century in the four-day match which concluded Wednesday.
West Indies batsman Lendl Simmons will be looking to continue his good run from last season while young Queen’s Park batsman Justin Guillen will be hoping for a good run.
The team leaves on January 6 for Jamaica.
SQUAD – Daren Ganga (captain), Dave Mohammed, Lendl Simmons, Jason Mohammed, Ravi Rampaul, Denesh Ramdin, Imran Khan, Sherwin Ganga, Sunil Narine, Rayad Emrit, Richard Kelly, Amit Jaggernauth, Justin Guillen, Kelvin Williams (coach), Ronald Rogers (physio), Colin Borde (manager).
