Gayle fails fitness test

- to be replaced by Kenar Lewis

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Jamaica’s top-order batsman Kenar Lewis will replace the injured left-handed opener Chris Gayle for the NAGICO Super50 Regional cricket tournament, according to the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA).

The JCA has confirmed that Gayle, whoinjured his hamstring on the tour of India last October, has failed a fitness test.

Jamaica Observer quoted the JCA’s chief executive officer Courtney Francis as saying that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief medical officer Dr Akshai Mansingh deemed Gayle unfit to play.

“I don’t think an error was made. Chris Gayle was in Australia and he came back. We mandated him to see Dr Mansingh to ascertain his level of fitness. Upon result of testing Chris came out to be unfit medically,” said Francis.

The selectors have now named David Bernard Jnr as the captain with Nikita Miller as the vice captain.

The NAGICO Super50 tournament is set for January 30 to February 15 in Trinidad.

Squad — David Bernard (captain), Nikita Miller (vice-captain), Kenar Lewis, John Campbell, Nkrumah Bonner, Jermaine Blackwood, Horace Miller, Andre McCarthy, Tamar Lambert, Andre Russell, Carlton Baugh, Andrew Richardson, Sheldon Cottrell and Jerome Taylor.