News day reporter
ANTILLES white ball captain Nicholas Pooran will lead Trinidad and Tobago’s 18-member Red Force squad in their defense of the CG United Super50 Cup, to be held in Trinidad and Antigua (including semis -finals and the final) from October 29. to November 19.
Pooran was in charge of the WI team’s brief and disastrous ICC T20 World Cup campaign. The regional team failed to qualify for the Super 12 stage in Australia, after defeats against Scotland and Ireland.
According to sources close to the Red Force franchise, Pooran, who has struggled with the bat in both white ball formats since replacing Kieron Pollard as WI captain earlier this year, will have his available to a number of experienced players.
Among the experienced players he will rely on is star off-spinner Sunil Narine, who is absent in Australia.
Narine has not played for the West Indies for over three years and according to West Indies manager Desmond Haynes, Pooran had conversations with the 34-year-old about a return but it “seemed like he was not not interested”.
Also on the team are Joshua Da Silva, Jason Mohammed, Evin Lewis, Jeremy Solozano, Darren Bravo, Shannon Gabriel, Yannic Cariah, Akeal Hosein and Imran Khan (who captained the Red Force during the West Indies Four Day Championships 2022).
Lewis, Cariah and Hosein were part of the West Indies T20 team in Australia.
Current WI Test fast bowlers Jayden Seales and Anderson Phillip have been named to the Red Force squad, along with Kjorn Ottley, Jyd Goolie, Khary Pierre, Mark Deyal and Terrance Hinds.
The Red Force, under the leadership of Kieron Pollard, won the 2021 edition, which took place in Antigua. From the 2021 squad, Pollard, Lendl Simmons and Denesh Ramdin have all retired from international cricket, while Ravi Rampaul has been overlooked.
This year’s Super50 Cup will feature eight teams – the six traditional franchises (Red Force, Guyana Harpy Eagles, Windward Islands Volcanoes, Leeward Islands Hurricanes, Barbados Pride and Jamaica Scorpions) plus the West Indies Academy and the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC).
Cricket West Indies (CWI), in a press release on Sunday, said a few players from the WI T20 squad had remained in Melbourne to prepare for the upcoming two-Test series against Australia.
The test squad is expected to be announced this week for the games, which will take place at Perth Stadium (November 30-December 4) and Adelaide Oval (November 8-12).
The press release noted that “due to the return of the T20 World Cup contingent, CWI will allow larger squads from the original 14 players. However, this will only be applicable for the period leading up to the departure of the West Indies Test squad on November 8 when the franchises will have to return to just 14 players.
