EMBATTLED fast bowler Tino Best is back in the Barbados squad again.
But experienced opener Dale Richards has been dropped for the fifth-round WICB regional first-class cricket match against the Windward Islands starting at Kensington Oval tomorrow.
Best was first handed a one-match suspension and missed the second-round match versus England Lions after verbally protesting fitness drills that were being supervised by the team’s strength and conditioning trainer Shannon Lashley.
Following representation by Queen’s Counsel Ralph Thorne, Best, a West Indies World Cup reserve, was belatedly reinstated for the third-round match against Jamaica. He took three wickets in the game, but wassurprisingly excluded for the away encounter against Guyana in the previous round.
Richards, 34, who played four One-Day Internationals and a Test for the West Indies last year against South Africa, has been omitted after managing just 85 runs from six innings in the first four matches at an average of 14.16.
Since making his debut for Barbados in 1999, Richards has been extremely consistent, scoring 3 267 runs in 52 first-class matches at an average of 36.30 with four hundreds and 23 half-centuries.
Left-hander Jason Haynes, who has been in the squad for all four matches without getting into the final 11, is now expected to partner teenager Kraigg Brathwaite at the top of the order.
It will be a belated 30th birthday present for the former Barbados captain, who has recorded two hundreds while amassing 1495 runs in 31 first-class matches at an average of 27.68. Â
Another casualty from the Guyana match, where Barbados conceded first innings points for the fourth consecutive time, is leg-spinner Ryan Layne. He bowled unimpressively, taking a solitary wicket with a full toss from 16 overs for 51 runs but did not bowl in Guyana’s second innings.
Layne’s place in the squad is taken by left-handed middle-order batsman Jonathan Carter, who has featured in Barbados’ Twenty20 and 50-over One-Day teams but not the four-day since 2009, even though he represented the West Indies A versus Pakistan A in a first-class match last year.
The selectors have again overlooked BNB St Catherine captain Kenroy Williams, who scored a half-century and took four wickets with his underrated off-spin in a pre-tournament practice match against the same Windwards outfit at the Police Sports Complex.
Barbados are languishing in seventh position in the eight-team tournament on a mere 12 points and are in danger of missing a semi-final spot unless they manage a couple of outright victories in their last three matches.
SQUAD: Ryan Hinds (captain), Tino Best, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks, Jonathan Carter, Roston Chase, Pedro Collins, Shane Dowrich, Fidel Edwards, Jason Haynes, Jason Holder, Kyle Hope, Kevin Stoute.
