THREE Guyanese, West Indies middle-order batsman Travis Dowlin, fast bowler Brandon Bess and middle-order batsman Assad Fudadin, have been included in the West Indies A team to face Zimbabwe in several practice matches before the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.
The 33-year-old Dowlin, who made his Test debut against Bangladesh last year, is at present averaging 41.00 from his four Test matches to date where he has accumulated 328 runs with a highest score of 95 made against Bangladesh.
From 80 first class matches, Dowlin has aggregated 3 727 runs with four centuries and 23 half-centuries, while he has a highest score of 176 not out made against Windward Islands in 2008 in Guyana, at an average of 30.05.
Fudadin, who was recently named the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTYSC) 2009 Senior Cricketer of the Year, has played 32 first class matches and aggregate 1 497 runs at an average of 30.55.
Even though he has not scored a ton, as his highest score is 93 made against Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC), he has displayed the ability to hold a middle order together, as he did several times in the 2009 West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) four-day championships while in partnership with Narsingh Deonarine.
Fudadin was a member of the West Indies team which won the ICC/Costcutter Under-15 World Cup back in England a decade ago, when he walked away with the man-of-the-match award in the final.
Bess has been tagged Guyana’s fastest bowler, but his inconsistency to get the ball in the right areas, has been his downfall.
He had a rough first class debut against a Trinidad and Tobago batting lineup which included former West Indies star batsman Brian Lara two years ago, following which he has only picked up 29 wickets from 17 first class matches at an average of 48.58.
In fact, Bess has been chosen as the spearhead of Guyana’s bowling attack, following the forced retirement on both Colin Stuart and Reon King and is yet to take a five-wicket haul, with his best return being the 4-102 he got against Jamaica in this year’s four-day competition.
Also included in the squad are Barbados’ prolific opening batsman Kraigg Braithwaite along with his West Indies Under-19 teammates, fast bowler Jason Holder and the pint-size wicketkeeper/batsman Shane Dowrich.
Dowrich was one of four Barbados players picked for the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year after he showed some ability, averaging 41 in the TCL Group West Indies Challenge tournament staged in Jamaica last year.
He made his first class debut for Barbados against Guyana at the Albion Community Centre ground, following his return from New Zealand, where he made 24, his highest score to date, in Barbados’ mammoth first innings score of 403.
There is no doubt or question mark over the batting ability of Braithwaite who has already chalked up over 30 centuries to his name, while still a teenager and with an average of 34.85 which was accrued from four first class matches where he has aggregated 244 runs, a bright future looms for him in the gentleman’s game.
A surprise omission from the team is that of Trinidad and Tobago’s middle order batsmen Darren Ganga and Darren Bravo, the younger brother of West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, while there was no room for West Indies middle order batsman Brendan Nash.
No captain has been selected to lead the team, but with players of the calibre of Dowlin, Jason Haynes and Kirk Edwards in the 13-man squad, it is possible that one of the three will lead the team against the African side, who will be using the matches as a warm-up to the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.
The West Indies 13 man ‘A’ team reads: Brandon Bess, Kraigg Brathwaite, Travis Dowlin, Shane Dowrich, Kirk Edwards, Assad Fudadin, Shannon Gabriel, Justin Guillen, Jason Haynes, Jason Holder, Imran Khan, Nelon Pascal and Shane Shillingford.