-Kirk Edwards recalled
ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Guyana left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul is the sole newcomer while Barbados captain and experienced batsman Kirk Edwards has been recalled in a 15-man West Indies squad named Saturday for a tour of Tests and limited overs matches to Bangladesh next month.
Permaul, 23, was given a push towards an international call-up after he was taken on the recent tour to Bangladesh with the West Indies Sagicor High Performance Centre team although he is not among the current second batch enrolled at the Barbados-based academy.
On that tour, he took 21 wickets all told in four-day, 50-over and Twenty20 matches. Twelve of those scalps came in two four-day matches.
Permaul captained the West Indies A team against India A in the Caribbean earlier this year and apparently impressed the selectors with his leadership though observers reckoned some of his tactics were defensive.
He has played 45 first-class matches since his debut five years ago, taking 152 wickets at 24.59 runs each.
The 27-year-old Edwards was dropped for the third and final Test on the tour to England this year because of poor form which resulted in his batting average sinking from over 50 to 39.11 after nine Tests in which he has scored 665 runs including two centuries and four fifties.
Edwards’ cause for a recall would have been helped by the fact that he not only scored the most runs (252) but also topped the batting averages on either side with 84.00 in the two-Test series in Bangladesh late last year.
There was no room, however, for his namesake and fellow Barbadian, fast bowler Fidel Edwards, as well as opening batsman Adrian Barath of Trinidad & Tobago.
The squad, to be again led by Daren Sammy, includes 10 players who toured Bangladesh last year when West Indies won both the Test and ODI series after losing the opening T20 International.
There are eight specialist batsmen in left-handed openers Chris Gayle and Kieran Powell, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine and Assad Fudadin.
Kemar Roach, Ravi Rampaul and Tino Best comprise the fast bowlers with the back-up of Sammy’s medium-pace.
Apart from Permaul, off-spinner Sunil Narine is the other specialist slow bowler with vice-captain and wicket-keeper/batsman Denesh Ramdin completing the squad.
Though the fixtures are still to be finalised, it is expected that West Indies will play two Tests, five ODIs and one T20 International on the tour, which runs from November 3 and December 12.
Squad: Darren Sammy (captain), Denesh Ramdin (vice-captain), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Kirk Edwards, Assad Fudadin, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieran Powell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels.