Rose fit for test pick

Franklyn Rose was yesterday pronounced fit again, increasing the options for the West Indies cricket selectors for the third, final and decisive Test against Pakistan, starting at the Antigua Recreation'Ground tomorrow.

Rose, the 28-year-old Jamaican swing bowler, was eliminated from the first two Tests after injuring the second finger of his bowling right hand on April 23 in the third final of the triangular series. He was retained in the West Indies squad for the first Test in Georgetown and trained with the team during the second Test in Bridgetown that ended on Monday.

If the policy of picking pure pace is maintained, as it was for the two Tests against Zimbabwe in March and the first two against Pakistan, Rose would almost certainly return at the expense of Nixon McLean.

In his first home Tests in two years, Rose claimed nine Zimbabwean wickets at an average of 17, setting up the remarkable West Indies first Test victory with four for 19 as Zimbabwe folded on the last day for 63, requiring 99 to win.

He enhanced his position with his highest Test score, a crucial 69, in the second Test at Sabina Park when his record eighth-wicket partnership with captain Jimmy Adams of 148 pulled the West Indies out of first innings trouble.

McLean had taken his place for the two Tests against Pakistan but was ineffective and expensive in both. He took two wickets for 93 from 26 overs at Bourda, where he scored a fighting 46 in the incomplete West Indies innings of the rain-ruined match, and three for 175 from 39.4 overs at Kensington.

The use of four fast bowlers is not necessarily cut and dried.

Mahendra Nagamooto, the Guyanese leg-spinner who, along with Curtly Ambrose, was the leading wicket-taker in the Busta Cup 2000 series with 31, has been in the squad of 14 throughout the series and will obviously be considered for his debut Test.

The lack of bowling variety has been exposed on favourable batting pitches in the first two Tests in which Pakistan recovered from precarious positions before lunch on the first day - from 39 for five to 288 at Bourda and from 37 for five to 253 at Kensington where they amassed 419 for nine declared in their second innings.

In three of the four previous Tests at the ARG, the selectors have included a specialist spinner at the expense of a fourth fast bowler.

Last season, off-spinner Nehemiah Perry was in support of Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Corey Collymore. In 1998, leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine provided the contrast to the pace of Ambrose, Walsh and Rose and was named Man Of The Match for his combined return of six for 99.

Ramnarine's fellow Trinidadian leg-spinner Rajindra Dhanraj was alongside the pace of Ambrose, Walsh and Ian Bishop against New Zealand in 1996 but managed only one wicket in each innings at a combined cost of 165.

The composition of the final 11 will be made after an examination of the pitch today. But, with captain Jimmy Adams adequately taking the role of fill-in spinner, Rose for McLean is likely to be the only change to the attack.