Badree, Russell and Fletcher to join Windies T20 squad

NELSON, New Zealand, CMC – West Indies selectors have called up three players to join the team in New Zealand for the two-match Twenty20 series.

Coach Ottis Gibson said that leg-spinner Samuel Badree, all-rounder Andre Russell and wicketkeeper-batsman Andre Fletcher are on their way from the Caribbean to join their team mates for the T20 matches.

Gibson confirmed the addition of the players during a post-match interview following the fourth One Day International (ODI) here on Saturday.

“There are some guys coming in for the Twenty20s. There are three guys coming. Samuel Badree is on his way; Andre Russell is on his way and Andre Fletcher,” he said.

“They are coming in for the T20s. We are down to the bare-bones and we’ll have to look at integrating them into this mix-up and see how we go forward from there. They should be here in two days’ time.”

West Indies lost the fourth ODI by 58 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method to give New Zealand a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

West Indies were 134 for five in the 34th over in reply to the hosts’ 285 for six off their 50 overs.

West Indies are down to 12 fit players after seamer Ravi Rampaul suffered an injured finger while batting the nets on Friday.

This followed injuries to Marlon Samuels and Darren Sammy and the withdrawal of Darren Bravo due to personal reasons.

“Ravi is a tough guy and I think when we get to Hamilton as long as there is no pain,” said Gibson. “It’s his left hand so it would not affect his bowling that much. Obviously only his fielding comes into play and batting at the end – he bats at 11.”

He said that the team management is awaiting the results on Sammy but at the moment he is on the injured list.

“We are still waiting for the results on Darren Sammy. At the moment he’s still limping around a bit so we’re not sure how he’s going to travel but he’s staying here with us a little longer. So if it gets down to next week we still have 10 days. At the moment he is on the injured list.”

The fifth and final ODI will be played in Hamilton on Wednesday (tomorrow  afternoon Caribbean time) followed by the two T20 matches on January 11 and 15.