Gayle Returns
March 17th 2009

Captain Chris Gayle has returned to the West Indies squad for the first two one-day games of a five-match series against England in Guyana on Friday and Sunday.

The hard-hitting left-hander strained his right hamstring during the drawn fifth and final test at the Queen’s Park Oval last week, and missed the one-off Twenty20 victory at the same venue on Sunday.

The 29-year-old comes back at the expense of Andre Fletcher, who only made six in Sunday’s contest that the West Indies won by six wickets. Denesh Ramdin, who stood in as captain for the Twenty20 match, is retained as vice-captain.

There are two other changes from the initial Twenty20 squad, with Jerome Taylor omitted because of a left calf strain that has already forced him to miss the fifth test and the Twenty20 game itself. Fellow Jamaican pacer Daren Powell, who played all five tests in the just-concluded series, takes Taylor’s place in the side.

Sulieman Benn, who played a major role in the West Indies’ victories in the first Test and on Sunday, has been dropped. Fellow left-arm spinner Nikita Miller, with an impressive record in his 11 previous one-dayers, is recalled.

Squad

Chris Gayle (captain), Denesh Ramdin (vice-captain), Lionel Baker, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Nikita Miller, Kieron Pollard, Daren Powell, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith.