ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Liam Sebastien will be missing in action for Windward Islands, when they face England Lions in the sixth round of the WICB Regional first-class championship, starting today at Windsor Park.
The 26-year-old all-rounder is not available for the contest because of a commitment at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus, where he is currently pursuing a Masters degree in International Management.
It is a big blow to the Windwards. They are fifth in the Championship on 29 points, and will be looking to keep themselves in the frame for the semi-finals.
Sebastien’s absence robs them of even more experience in their batting, which has often let them down.
He has been leading the side in the absence of West Indies captain Darren Sammy, and played a crucial role in the Windwards gaining first innings points in their drawn fifth round match against Barbados.
Sebastien scored 94 in the first innings, and grabbed nine wickets to earn the Man-of-the-Match award at Kensington Oval.
But his dad Lockhart, the current Windwards manager and former batting star, has again challenged the batsmen to show more consistency for the remainder of the competition.
“We secured first innings points over Combined Campuses & Colleges and Trinidad & Tobago, and we lost these matches outright, and we almost lost the last match against Barbados,” said the elder Sebastien.
“This means that we are playing in patches, although we have had some good performances from some of the guys.”
He added: “I would like to see some consistency in the batting because I believe that we should have already qualified for the semi-finals.
“The batsmen need to concentrate for the entire four days. It is not a three-day game. It is a four-day game. This has been our problem. We are not concentrating for the entire four days.”
Wicketkeeper/batsman Lyndon James will lead the side, as he did when Sebastien missed the fourth round match against Trinidad & Tobago with a hamstring injury.
Young West Indies all-rounder Kavem Hodge will replace Sebastien, as one of two changes to the squad that visited Bridgetown.
Hodge, the Most Valuable Player in last year’s TCL Group West Indies Under-19 Challenge in St. Lucia, recently returned to Dominica, after a very successful three-month stint at the Darren Lehman Cricket Academy in Australia.
He is currently enjoying a rich vein of form in the national competition, and has so far hit two hundreds. He was voted as.
The other change brings Nelon Pascal back into the 13-member squad. He missed the match against the Barbadians because of injury and has been chosen ahead of fellow fast bowler Delorn Johnson.
The Lions also gained first innings points in their badly rain-affected, drawn fifth round match against Guyana which ended in a draw. They are third on 33 points.
The visitors have set themselves the goal of finishing at the top of the league table, although they will not qualify for the semi-finals.
The match is starting one day earlier than the others to expedite the travel arrangements for the Lions players, who return to Britain on March 29, following their seventh round match against Jamaica in Kingston.
Squads:
WINDWARD ISLANDS: Lyndon James (captain), Atticus Brown, Andre Fletcher, Kavem Hodge, Kevin James, Keddy Lesporis, Garey Mathurin, Mervyn Matthew, Nelon Pascal, Kenroy Peters, Dalton Polius, Tyrone Theophile, Keswick Williams
ENGLAND LIONS: James Hildreth (captain), Jimmy Adams, Johnny Bairstow, Danny Briggs, Nathan Buck, Andy Carter, Jade Dernbach, Andrew Gale, James Harris, Craig Kieswetter, Adam Lyth, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, Chris Woakes
UMPIRES: Lennox Abrahams, Peter Nero
MATCH REFEREE: Adrian Griffith
RESERVE UMPIRE: Rogers Larocque
