West Indian skipper Chris Gayle will not play the first Test against Australia because he has still not recovered from the groin injury that kept him out of the Indian Premier League.
Melbourne, May 17 : West Indian skipper Chris Gayle will not play the first Test against Australia because he has still not recovered from the groin injury that kept him out of the Indian Premier League.
Gayle suffered a groin injury a month ago in the final game of the West Indies' one-day series against Sri Lanka.
The team's leadership will revolve around Ramnaresh Sarwan with Dwayne Bravo being his new deputy. Sarwan guided the team in two Tests in England last year and will face a tough assignment against the world champions.
The loss of the opening batsman and skipper compounded further today with news fellow opener Sewnarine Chattergoon, who made his debut against Sri Lanka in April, has also been ruled out with a shoulder problem.
After a week-long camp in Antigua, the West Indies today named a 14-man Test squad including opener Brenton Parchment, who scored 25 for Jamaica XI against Australia on the first day of their three-day match in Trelawny.
The first Test begins at Sabina Park in Kingston on Thursday, theage.com.au reported.
Squad: Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice-captain), Sulieman Benn, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Ryan Hinds, Amit Jaggernauth, Runako Morton, Darren Sammy, Devon Smith, Brenton Parchment, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Jerome Taylor.
ANI