BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: JAMAICAN OPENING batsman Chris Gayle has been dropped from the West Indies' 14-member squad for the opening Cable & Wireless Test match against Australia at Bourda Oval in Georgetown, Guyana, starting on Thursday.
Gayle, who is partnering former West Indies captain Carl Hooper in the current World Double-Wicket competition in St. Lucia, was overlooked by the selectors and, while people close to the board refused to comment, it seems his choice of that event over the regional Carib Beer International final currently going on against Barbados may have played a role in his dismissal.
Although contractually obliged to fulfil his obligations to the lucrative double-wicket event, Gayle was apparently told he could forego those obligations if Jamaica reached the Carib Beer International final. Yet he chose the more lucrative option.
On a more positive note for the island, David Bernard Jnr and Carlton Baugh Jnr are in the West Indies squad.
West Indies squad: Brian Lara (captain), Carlton Baugh Jnr, David Bernard Jnr, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Vasbert Drakes, Mervyn Dillon, Daren Ganga, Wavell Hinds, Carl Hooper, Ridley Jacobs, Jermaine Lawson, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith.
