Barath eyeing Oval Test for comeback

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Sidelined West Indies opener Adrian Barath is eyeing a comeback in the final match of the three-Test series against South Africa later this month.

The 20-year-old right-hander, who played two Tests against Australia last year, has been kept out of the West Indies side since March with a knee injury.

“I will continue to train and hope for a call up to the team for the final Test in Barbados,” Barath said.

“In the meantime it is just more work in the nets to get as fit as possible if the call up comes my way.”

The right-hander marked his Test debut at Brisbane last November with a scintillating century while still a 19-year-old.

Since then, however, he has been dogged by injury and was sidelined again after playing the five-match One-Day International series against Zimbabwe earlier this year.

Barath said he had trained with West Indies while they were in Trinidad recently and believed his fitness was quickly returning.

“I am feeling fine at the moment. I trained with the West Indies team from the Monday after their One-Day International against South Africa right up to the end of the Test and I am feeling fine,” he noted.

“At the moment I am just continuing my therapy and it is really helping a lot. I have been to the nets and I am moving very well.”

West Indies trail the three-Test series 1-0 after losing by 163 runs at the Queen’s Park Oval here last Sunday.

The second Test is set to start at Warner Park in St Kitts on Friday while the third match bowls off at Kensington Oval in Barbados on June 26.