The Barbados Franchise will be sending a 17-man squad to Port of Spain next week as a special precaution, with three cricketers who are training to make the team already showing symptoms associated with the mosquito-borne disease.
Barbados play arch-rivals Trinidad and Tobago in the first match of the recently launched WICB pro league at the Queen’s Park Oval, with the full team expected to be named on Monday.
Chairman of selectors Hendy Wallace informed the WEEKEND NATION yesterday that the franchise would not be taking any chances, and would be naming 17 players to make the trip, instead of the usual 13 that would travel for overseas matches.
Team affected
The WEEKEND NATION has also been reliably informed that chikungunya is already affecting the team, with trialists Kenroy Williams, Shamarh Brooks and Kyle Hope showing early signs of the disease which has proven problematic across the country in the past two months.
Barbados’ preparation for the inaugural professional league took another hit from the weather yesterday, when no play was possible on the third day of a practice match, after heavy overnight rain affected the run-ups and left puddles on the outfield at the Pine Basin.
Umpires Dalton Holder and Ryan Willoughby called off play just after the scheduled lunch break at 11:30 a.m.
The first practice match began after two and a half days due to a wet outfield at the Desmond Haynes Oval.
In this second practice match, Stoute’s XI batted first and amassed 355 all out with Shai Hope batting solidly to compile 122 with support coming from opener Rashidi Boucher who scored an even 50 and captain Kevin Stoute, 43. (BA/HE)
