PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC- Five senior players of lowly placed Trinidad and Tobago Red Force have withdrawn from the squad for the WICB Professional Cricket League (PCL) which resumes next week.
Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Kevon Cooper, Ravi Rampaul and Dwayne Bravo are unavailable for varying reasons, chairman of the selection panel Alec Burns has revealed.
Pollard has asked for time to work on his injury with his physiotherapist and will play some club cricket before returning to the First Class set up while Narine and Cooper have requested time to work on their respective bowling actions.
Rampaul is recovering from a side strain while Bravo has indicated that he is not available to play in the First Class format, Burns explained.
“They have indicated that they are unavailable until further notice,” Burns told the Guardian.
“Bravo has indicated to us that he is not available to play in the First Class format and hence we did not consider him.”
Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, which won the Regional Super50 tournament earlier this month, is currently on 24 points in the PCL, above bottom of the table Leeward Islands Hurricanes on 10 points.
Guyana Jaguars are out front on 57 points.
Meanwhile, Manohar Ramsaran has resigned as manager of the Red Force just days after they won the NAGICO Super50 title and is being replaced by former national allrounder Roland Sampath.
“As a former Minister of sports and MP and present club cricketer, Manohar brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the job of manager of the national cricket team,” said Azim Bassarath, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB).
“T&T have just won the Super50 crown and will be challenging strongly for the four-day title and we are expecting Sampath, who is a former successful national and Police Sports Club cricketer to bring to bear the seriousness of what needs to be done to achieve the team’s goals”
Red Force play Windward Islands Volcanoes at Beausejour Cricket Ground in St.Lucia from next Friday.