Browne gets late call

One over-30 wicket-keeper will replace another for the Kenya leg of the imminent West Indies tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Courtney Browne, 30, takes over from Ridley Jacobs, 33, emphasising the absence of obvious young candidates at present.

Browne is one of two changes to the 16 for Kenya where the team will play two four-day matches and three One-Day Internationals.

The other brings in 21-year-old left-arm wrist spinner Dave Mohammed for his first tour in place of fellow Trinidadian Dinanath Ramnarine.

Chairman of selectors Mike Findlay did not say who would substitute if either Jacobs or Browne is injured. It is a calculated gamble but one that could well backfire.

Last year, Findlay identified Wavell Hinds as a possible choice after Jacobs was originally the only chosen keeper for the tour of England. But then Wayne Phillip, the 22-year-old Dominican, was seconded to fill the post.

In the event, Hinds never had to be called on. He is again in the squad for the triangular one-day series with India and Zimbabwe, while Leon Garrick, his fellow Jamaican who takes his place for the Tests, has kept at club level.

Jacobs was also the sole keeper on the preceding tour of New Zealand and played in both Tests and all five One-Day Internationals.

Findlay acknowledged yesterday that the choice of Jacobs, who has played his 31 Tests and 79 One-Day Internationals in succession, and Browne (13 Tests, 12 internationals) was indicative of the dearth of young keepers.

On this tour, we would have loved to have had a young keeper but the reality is we don't have one we felt was ready yet , he said.

The disappointing thing is that every time we see a young keeper who looks promising, after a couple of years he falls back instead of going forward.

Findlay, himself a former Windward Islands keeper who played 10 Tests for the West Indies between 1969 and 1973, placed Jamaicans Shane Ford and Matthew Sinclair, in that category.

They were chosen for representative teams against touring teams but have since lost their places in the Jamaica team.

Phillip and 21-year-old Jamaican Keith Hibbert are both at the Shell Academy in Grenada and Findlay hoped they would emerge from that as the keepers of the future.

Phillip looked quite good when he went to England and filled in for Jacobs in some county matches on last year's tour of England, he said. But something seemed to go wrong along the way and he hasn't progressed as we hoped.

Hibbert made an impression in last year's Red Stripe Bowl with both his batting and his keeping but, according to Findlay, they fell away during the Busta International Series.

They are both young enough that they can come on with the proper training and attitude, he said.