T/dad boosted by return of quartet

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad,  CMC – Trinidad and Tobago will be boosted for their Regional Four-Day semi-final clash with Barbados this weekend, with four international players returning to the 13-man squad announced earlier this week.

Ravi Rampaul

West Indies batsman Darren Bravo will lead the returning players, after he was released from the Twenty20 squad in order to find some much needed form in the longer version of the game, ahead of the three-Test series with Australia starting next week. He was a shadow of himself in the one-day series with a run of low scores of four, 16, 0 25 and three.

The left-hander will be joined by wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, pacer Ravi Rampaul and batsman Adrian Barath.

“This is definitely a strengthened team. We got back four of our international players, which will be a big boost heading into the match,” the Trinidad Express newspaper quoted chairman of selectors Dudnath Ramkessoon as saying.

Adrian Barath

“Barath came back against Guyana and made an immediate impact. Ramdin, Bravo, Rampaul … these are all West Indies players with a lot of experience and we welcome them back.”

Ramdin has recovered from a fractured finger that forced him to out of the West Indies squad for the first three One-Day Internationals against Australia.

However, he will play as a specialist batsman, allowing Gibran Mohammed to continue as the gloveman in the side.

Denesh Ramdin

Rampaul, meanwhile, has returned to fitness following injury and illness which prevented him from playing a single match during the Four-Day season.

Barath played in the last two one-dayers against the Aussies in St Lucia last week but was not retained for the T20 squad.

SQUAD – Denesh Ramdin (captain), Justin Guillen, Marlon Barclay, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Rayad Emrit, Gibran Mohammed, Aneil Kanhai, Ravi Rampaul, Shannon Gabriel, Kavesh Kantasingh, Imran Khan, Evin Lewis.