Smith for HPC tour of Canada

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Out-of-favour Test batsman Devon Smith has been included in a High Performance Centre squad for next month’s tour of Canada.

The 28-year-old left-hander, who recently captained West Indies A, will be part of the side which will play four 50-over and two Twenty20 matches in the Tri-Nations Canada Summer Festival involving Bermuda and Canada.

Smith has played 31 Tests and 32 One-Day Internationals and will add precious experience to an otherwise youthful squad, which has been under the guidance of director Toby Radford at the HPC, based at the UWI Cave Hill Campus.

The HPC squad will, however, be without West Indies Under-19 captain Andre Creary and pacer Kevin McClean who are both injured.

Barbadian Shamarh Brooks has been handed the captaincy of the squad which also includes Brandon Bess who made an unexpected Test appearance for West Indies in the final Test against South Africa in June.

The tour, which runs from September 7-18, will see the HPC open their campaign with a One-Day clash against Bermuda on September 8 before playing Canada in a T20 encounter the following day.

All matches will be played at the Malton Sports and Cricket Club in Mississauga, Ontario.

SQUAD – Shamarh Brooks (captain), Brandon Bess, Nkrumah Bonner, Ravendra Chandrika, Kyle Corbin, Keron Cottoy, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Delorn Johnson, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieran Powell, Devon Smith, Devon Thomas.

Following is the HPC schedule for the tour of Canada:
September 8: vs Bermuda (50 overs)
September 9: vs Canada (50 overs)
September 11: vs Bermuda (T20)
September 12: vs Canada (T20)
September 14: vs Bermuda (50 overs)
September 15: vs Canada (50 overs)