West Indies retain bowling attack for St Kitts

Despite Brian Lara's plea to include a fast bowler capable of dislodging the Indian lineup, the West Indies selectors included an extra batsman and retained the same bowling combination for the third Test in St Kitts, starting June 22. Marlon Samuels, the right-handed batsman, is the only change in the 13-man squad, replacing Dave Mohammed, the left-arm chinaman bowler.

Lara, who is not a member of the selection panel, made a request to the selectors to include a fast bowler capable of bowling at 90 miles per hour or higher, after the injury to Fidel Edwards in the first Test at Antigua. Edwards, whose pace and bounce helped restrict India to a modest 241 in the first innings, suffered a hamstring pull early in the second.

The Indians thereafter managed to rack up consecutive scores of over 500, prompting Lara to rethink his bowling combination. Mohammed, the left-arm chinaman bowler, was left out of the final eleven for the second Test at St Lucia, highlighting Lara's insistence on pace as a strategy to get on top of India. Lara too made a plea to the authorities at the remaining venues to prepare faster tracks to suit his bowlers.

Samuels, who played in the ODIs which preceded the Tests, failed with the bat but played his part with his offbreaks, restricting the Indians from scoring quickly.

Squad Brian Lara (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice-capt), Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Runako Morton, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor