Shillingford, Gabriel recalled for Zimbabwe Test

BRIDGETOWN—West Indies cricket selectors have recalled off-spinner Shane Shillingford and fast bowler Shannon Gabriel ahead of the two- match Test series against Zimbabwe starting next week.

Shillingford and Gabriel have been named in a 13-man squad released yesterday for the first Test against Zimbabwe starting on Tuesday at Kensington Oval in Barbados. Middle order batsman Marlon Samuels has also been included on the squad after recovering from an eye injury that forced him out of the Australia Big Bash last December.

However, there was no place for Ramnaresh Sarwan, who had a disastrous tour of Australia during the recent ODI series with a number of low scores including several ducks. Sarwan struggled to rekindle form recently and managed a century during the ODI series against Zimbabwe at the National Stadium in Grenada.

Gabriel’s call-up would have come as no surprise after he performed impressively in the Caribbean T20 in January and was named man of the match in the finals against Guyana. The T&T fast bowler, one of the rising stars of regional cricket, made an impressive Test debut for the West Indies against England last May but had to return home with a back injury.

Shillingford, who had emerged as the regional side’s frontline spinner, is back on the team after he was controversially excluded from the  Bangladesh tour last year. Last year, the Dominican spinner enjoyed a successful return to international cricket by taking 14 wickets in two Tests against Australia following a near two-year hiatus to reorder his bowling action.
His exclusion from the regional side had provoked uproar in some regional cricket circles. CMC 

WI Team

FULL SQUAD: Darren Sammy (captain), Denesh Ramdin (vice captain), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieron Powell, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford