Polius, Edward poised for Windwards tournament debuts

CASTRIES, St Lucia,  CMC – Youth team duo Dalton Polius and Kurt Edward have been named in a 13-man St Lucia squad for the Windward Islands one-day championship which bowls off here today.

Polius and Edward, both of whom represented the Windwards Under-19 team at this year’s West Indies Youth Challenge in Jamaica, are the only new faces in the line up which will be led by West Indies vice-captain Darren Sammy.

Polius in particular was outstanding during the tournament, capturing 23 wickets in the Three-day Cup while scoring 211 runs.

The selectors, meanwhile, have recalled wicketkeeper batsman Gaspard Prospere and all-rounder Craig Emmanuel to the squad, which will come up against Dominica in their opening round match at the Beausejour Cricket Ground today.

St Lucia will rely heavily on Sammy, the only player in their ranks with international experience.

The spirited all-rounder was a member of the West Indies team that crashed out of the recent ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa without winning a single match.

Dominica are defending champions in the one-day format while Grenada will defend their two-day title on October 18.

SQUAD – Darren Sammy (captain), Gary Mathurin, Johnson Charles, Keddy Lesporis, Gaspard Prospere, Sergio Fedee, Denis Louis, Alex Antoine, Dalton Polius, Craig Emmanuel, Xavier Gabriel, Kurt Edward, Cyrille Charles.