Jaggernauth, Kelly, Khan miss out

The national cricket selectors yesterday released the final 15-man squad for the upcoming Champions League in India and missing from the list were all rounders Richard Kelly and Imran Khan, as well as West Indies off-spinner Amit Jaggernauth. The team will be led by Daren Ganga, with West Indies all rounder Dwayne Bravo as his deputy. Khan has been surprisingly left out after a number of sterling performances during the 2009 regional cricket series. He was also one of the five Cricketers of the Year at the TTCB’s recent prize-giving function. The selectors had initially selected 20 players for training and subsequently cut five from that list. In addition to Khan, Kelly and Jaggernauth, hard-hitting batsmen Daron Cruickshank and Kevon Cooper also misses out.

Apart from Ganga and Dwayne Bravo, the batting is in the capable hands of West Indies players Lendl Simmons, Keiron Pollard and Darren Bravo, as well as the swashbuckling William Perkins and Adrian Barath. West Indies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin will do duties behind the stumps. Leading the pack of all-rounders are Ravi Rampaul, Samuel Badree, Sherwin Ganga, Rayad Emrit and Dave Mohammed. Joining Rampaul and Emrit in the fast bowling attack will be Tobago-born pacer Navin Stewart. Queen’s Park spinner Sunil Narine also wins a call-up after his excellent performances in the WIPA Twenty20 series.

The full team is Daren Ganga (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice-captain), Lendl Simmons, William Perkins, Keiron Pollard, Sherwin Ganga, Navin Stewart, Samuel Badree, Darren Bravo, Ravi Rampaul, Denesh Ramdin, Sunil Narine, Adrian Barath, Rayad Emrit and Dave Mohammed.

Vinode Mamchan
Trinidad Guardian