Dwayne Smith to lead West Indies A in T20s

Dwayne Smith, the West Indies allrounder, has been named captain of the West Indies A Twenty20 Team that will take on Bangladesh A in two games in St Lucia.

Smith has played 10 Tests, 77 ODIs and 10 T20Is for West Indies, but his last Test came in 2006 and his last ODI in 2010. He opened the innings for West Indies in their last T20I at The Oval on September 25, when they beat England by 25 runs. He was not included in the West India A four-day squad that is currently playing two unofficial Tests against Bangladesh A.

The 13-man squad includes three players who have never played for the West Indies senior team: legspinner Samuel Badree, who impressed in the Champions League T20, left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul who was part of the four-day squad, and batsman Jason Mohammed, who was named the Player of the Tournament and awarded the Richie Richardson Trophy for most outstanding batsman in the recently concluded Regional Super50 Tournament.

Garey Mathurin, who starred in that game at The Oval, taking took 3 for 9 in on debut, joins Badree and Permaul as the three specialist spinners in the squad. T20 specialists, allrounder Christopher Barnwell and left-arm seamer Krishmar Santokie have also been included, as has allrounder Carlos Brathwaite, who is a member of the West Indies A four-day squad.

Meanwhile batsman Shamarh Brooks has been added to the West Indies A four-day squad as the replacement for Dwayne Bravo, who injured his ankle and was forced to miss the series. Brooks is a graduate of the Sagicor High Performance Centre and has played in 16 first-class matches for Barbados. He is also a former West Indies Under-19 captain.

Squad: Dwayne Smith (capt), Samuel Badree, Christopher Barnwell, Miles Bascombe, Nkrumah Bonner, Carlos Brathwaite, Johnson Charles, Jason Mohammed, Garey Mathurin, Nelon Pascal, Veerasammy Permaul, Krishmar Santokie, Devon Thomas (wk)