ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Out-of-favour limited overs all-rounder, Rovman Powell, has been named in a 15-man group for a high performance training camp starting here next Monday.
The 25-year-old, who has played 34 One-Day Internationals and 20 Twenty20 Internationals, was part of West Indies’ World Cup qualifying campaign in Zimbabwe last year March but subsequently overlooked for the ongoing showpiece in England.
He also captained West Indies in a three-match ODI series away to Bangladesh last December when Jason Holder was injured, but has not featured in an ODI since.
Powell is one of nine players recently selected for the upcoming West Indies A series against touring India A, who will feature in the 13-day camp set for Coolidge Cricket Ground here.
He is joined by 23-year-old fast bowler Shermon Lewis who played Tests against India and Bangladesh last year, and 20-year-old all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford who featured in a single T20 International against Bangladesh last December.
The camp follows on the heels of a similar initiative for emerging white-ball players which ended Wednesday, and high performance manager, Graeme West, said it was yet another move to expand the talent pool in the region.
“This camp is another opportunity for the CWI selectors to recognise and reward players that have impressed in regional cricket,” West said.
“Many of the players selected have come through the CWI talent pathway and have benefitted from our investment in Youth, Under-19, High Performance and ‘A’ Team programmes over the last five years.”
He added: “Four of the players selected also participated in the recent emerging players camp which focused primarily on their white-ball skill development, but this camp will focus on red-ball skills with every player involved having produced performances of great quality in the West Indies Championship.”
With opener Chandrapaul Hemraj and left-arm spinner Khary Pierre – both of whom have represented West Indies in white-ball cricket – also attending the camp, West said knowledge transfer would be important.
“It will be great to have five players with full international caps to their name attending, enabling them to pass on some of their experiences to the younger players in the squad who have only just been introduced to the first-class arena in the Caribbean,” he said.
SQUAD – Keacy Carty, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Dominic Drakes, Akim Fraser, Keon Harding, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Kavem Hodge, Chemar Holder, Brandon King, Shermon Lewis, Marquino Mindley, Khary Pierre, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Jeremy Solozano.