KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – Windward Islands selectors have retained the bulk of their one-day squad for the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship campaign next month. West Indies captain Darren Sammy will lead the 14-man unit which includes nearly all the players who contested October’s WICB One-Day Championship in Jamaica.
The only changes are the axing of batsmen Donwell Hector and Craig Emmanuel who have been replaced by Lyndon Lawrence and Tyrone Theophile. Lawrence, a 21-year-old right-hander, was picked for last July’s CT20 in July but did not play a game while Theophile, also 21, will play the shortened version for the first time after debuting in the first class championship earlier this year.
The squad will also boast West Indies players Devon Smith and Shane Shillingford, who recently returned from the tour of Sri Lanka.
Windwards will be looking to extend their good form from the One-Day Championship, when they played unbeaten to reach the semi-finals of the tournament before bowing out.
Their campaign in the CT20 was less than impressive, however, losing two of their three matches with their final match being rained out.
The Windwards will play in Group A with defending champions Guyana, Jamaica, Combined Campuses and Colleges and English County Somerset, in the January 10-23 tournament.
SQUAD – Darren Sammy (captain), Devon Smith (vice-captain), Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Lyndon James, Lyndon Lawrence, Keddy Lesporis, Gary Mathurin, Mervin Matthew, Nelon Pascal, Kenroy Peters, Liam Sebastien, Shane Shillingford, Tyrone Theophile.