Former West Indies Under-19 players Tevin Imlach and Javier Spencer were the new faces in the squad of defending four-day champions, Guyana Jaguars for the upcoming 2018/2019 Cricket West Indies (CWI) Professional Cricket League (PCL).
The draft for the upcoming season was held yesterday at the headquarters in Antigua and was done under the guidance of Auditing Firm, KPMG.
Imlach and Spencer were both picked from the draft along with Christopher Barnwell, Akshya Persaud and Ramaal Lewis as the five players to complete the quota and Lewis and Spencer being the overseas players in the quad.
The squad also features a core of its successful squad from last season with the likes of West Indies test players, Leon Johnson, Vishaul Singh and Veerasammy Permaul all in the mix.
West Indies A team players, Chandrapaul Hemraj and Romario Shepherd as well as former West Indies Under-19 players, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Keon Joseph and Gudakesh Motie all features in the squad.
Imlach and Bramble are the two specialist wicketkeepers in the squad with Bramble coming good on his batting last season while Imlach has proven himself capable behind the stumps and with the bat as part of the Under-19 World Cup winning team.
Antiguan born, 18 year old Spencer is a right handed batsman and a nifty medium pacer, claiming 4-35 against Zimbabwe in the Under-19 World Cup last year.
According to a CWI release, CWI director, Anand Sanasie thinks “the continued investment we have made in youth to develop along the current system on a pathway to West Indies, continues to be the approach we will take. That has worked for us so far. We however expect the teams to be even more competitive this season and we think the mix of youth and experience will serve us well.”
Meanwhile, the Barbados Pride which was second place in both the 4-Day and 50-overs formats has added what they call “an experienced fast bowler who we think will support the cast of the younger bowlers in the team. We think the draft went well for us,” according to Chairman of Selectors, Hendy Wallace.
