BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Fidel Edwards could make his comeback to competitive action in the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship.
The Barbados Cricket Association announced yesterday that the West Indies fast bowler and all-rounder Shamarh Brooks have been added to the national trial squad to prepare for the competition, which will be staged jointly by Antigua and Barbados from January 9 to 24 next year.
Edwards has not played any serious cricket since October last year, when a back injury sidelined him in the Champions League T20 in India, when he was playing for Deccan Chargers against Trinidad & Tobago.
This led to the West Indies Cricket Board withdrawing his central retainer contract, since he was in the middle of a rehabilitation programme, after the problem surfaced during the West Indies’ tour of England earlier that year.
The 28-year-old Edwards subsequently underwent surgery to correct the problem at the end of last year, and he has been steadily recuperating.
Edwards recently joined the West Indies training camp in Barbados prior to Darren Sammy’s side departing for the current tour of Sri Lanka, which heightened expectation that his return may be imminent. In 43 Tests for West Indies, he has captured 122 wickets at 39.43. He has also taken 60 scalps at 30.20 in 50 One-day Internationals, and 10 wickets at 30.80 in 12 T20Is. Brooks, a 22-year-old batsman and leg-spin bowler, is a former Young Barbados and Young West Indies captain.
He led the West Indies High Performance squad on tour of Canada in September, and was also at the helm when they took part in the WICB Regional One-day championship last month in Jamaica.
