SPORTS
Newsday reporter
WEST INDIES white-ball captain Nicholas Pooran will lead the 18-man Trinidad and Tobago Red Force squad in their defense of the CG United Super50 Cup, which will be held in Trinidad and Antigua (including the semi-finals and final) from October 29. until November 19.
Pooran was at the helm of the WI team’s brief and disastrous ICC T20 World Cup campaign. The regional side failed to qualify for the Super 12 stage in Australia, following defeats to Scotland and Ireland.
According to sources close to the Red Force franchise, Pooran, who has struggled with the bat in both white-ball formats since replacing Kieron Pollard as WI captain earlier this year, will have a number of players at his disposal. with experience.
Among the experienced players he will rely on is the team’s star player Sunil Narine, who was absent in Australia.
Narine has not played for the West Indies for more than three years and according to West Indies selector Desmond Haynes, Pooran had talks with the 34-year-old about a comeback but “it seemed he wasn’t interested”.
Also in the squad are Joshua Da Silva, Jason Mohammed, Evin Lewis, Jeremy Solozano, Darren Bravo, Shannon Gabriel, Yannic Cariah, Akeal Hosein and Imran Khan (who captained the Red Force during the 2022 West Indies Four-Day Championship).
Lewis, Cariah and Hosein were part of the West Indies T20 squad in Australia.
Current WI Test fast bowlers Jayden Seales and Anderson Phillip were named in the Red Force squad, as were Kjorn Ottley, Jyd Goolie, Khary Pierre, Mark Deyal and Terrance Hinds.
The Red Force, under Kieron Pollard, won the 2021 edition, which was held in Antigua. From the 2021 squad, Pollard, Lendl Simmons and Denesh Ramdin have all retired from international cricket, while Ravi Rampaul was omitted.
This year’s Super50 Cup will feature eight teams – the six traditional franchises (Red Force, Guyana Harpy Eagles, Windward Islands Volcanoes, Leeward Islands Hurricanes, Barbados Pride and Jamaica Scorpions) as well as the West Indies Academy and Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC ). ).
Cricket West Indies (CWI), in a media release issued on Sunday, said several players from the WI T20 squad remained in Melbourne to prepare for the upcoming two-Test series against Australia.
The Test squad is expected to be announced this week for the matches, which will be played at Perth Stadium (November 30 to December 4) and Adelaide Oval (November 8-12).
The press release stated, “Due to the returning contingent of the T20 World Cup, the CWI will allow larger squads than the 14 players initially determined. However, this will only be applicable for the period before the departure of the West Indies Test team on November 8, when the franchises have to go back to just 14 players.”
