Walsh back in team

Leeds: Courtney Walsh, whose sore right instep caused him to miss the triangular One-Day tournament over the past three weeks, returns to action today as the West Indies revert to the longer game in preparation for the remaining three Tests of the series.

But while Walsh is back for the three-day match against Yorkshire, three other key players, Curtly Ambrose, Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are all missing, for one reason or another.

Ambrose is not scheduled back from his approved leave in Antigua until this morning. Lara and Chanderpaul are having continuing treatment on injuries different in location and seriousness.

Lara has felt tightness in his left hamstring for more than a week and took the precaution of opting out of the last One-Day match against England on Thursday.

The left-handed linchpin of batting has previously missed only two of the 26 playing days on tour so will appreciate the break.

While his injury is not serious enough to place him in doubt for the third Test, starting December 3, it restricts the training schedule necessary to get him back to his best fighting weight and comes at a time when he was finding heartening consistency.

Chanderpaul's lay-off will be extended to almost a month as the strained tendons in his right forearm are given further time to properly heal.

The only time he has batted since he sustained the injury in his topscore of 73 in the first Test was in scoring 22 and nine in the second at Lord's for which he was included only after a fitness test on the morning of the match.

The NatWest Series that immediately followed the second Test was an untimely intervention. It called for different methods from both batsmen and bowlers and, with the exception of Lara who passed 50 in three of his four innings, there was a general lack of consistency.

Now they all have to quickly settle back into another mode.

Adrian Griffith, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Corey Collymore, who each had only one match in that time, are all included today while Wayne Phillip has been summoned from his attachment with the MCC to fill in as wicket-keeper while Ridley Jacobs is given a necessary break.

As expected, Darren Gough is not in the Yorkshire team but three others from the England XI that won the second Test batsman Michael Vaughan, all-rounder Craig White and fast bowler Matthew Hoggard are.

So is another recent England Test fast bowler, Chris Silverwood, who played in the series in South Africa last season.

Yorkshire are currently second in the Division 1 of the new, twodivisional county championship. They have a proud tradition against touring teams and should provide just the type of tough opposition the West Indies need for the tough challenges to come.

West Indies team: Jimmy Adams (captain), Sherwin Campbell, Adrian Griffith, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Nixon McLean, Wayne Phillip, Corey Collymore and Courtney Walsh.