ST JOHN’S, Antigua – West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Smith will captain the West Indies ‘A’ Twenty20 Team which will face Bangladesh ‘A’ in two Digicel T20s at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in St Lucia. The 28-year-old, who cracked a century on his Test debut against South Africa in 2004, has played in 10 Tests and 10 Twenty20 Internationals along with 77 One Day Internationals.
The 13-man squad includes just three players who have never played for the West Indies senior team – Trinidadian leg-spinner Samuel Badree, Guyanese left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul and Trinidadian batsman Jason Mohammed.
Mohammed was awarded the Player-of-the-Tournament and the Richie Richardson Trophy for most outstanding batsman in the recently concluded Regional Super50 Tournament.
The other ten members of the squad have played international cricket with Grenadian fast bowler Nelon Pascal and Smith being the two to have played Test matches.
West Indies Twenty20 specialists, Guyanese all-rounder Christopher Barnwell and Jamaican left-armer Krishmar Santokie are included in the squad.
St Lucian Garey Mathurin who had an impressive international debut for the West Indies against England joins Badree and Permaul as the three specialist spinners in the squad.
Mathurin’s countryman, aggressive opener Johnson Charles will also get a chance to play in front of his home crowd in Windies colours.
Barbadian all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite, who is a member of the West Indies A Test squad also got the selectors’ nod as did Vincentian opening batsman Miles Bascombe.
The two Digicel T20s will follow the Second Digicel ‘Test’. The two teams will then move to three Digicel One Day games in St Vincent. The West Indies A One Day squad will be announced at a later date.
West Indies A Twenty20 Squad: Dwayne Smith (captain), Samuel Badree, Christopher Barnwell, Miles Bascombe, Nkrumah Bonner, Carlos Brathwaite, Johnson Charles, Jason Mohammed, Gary Mathurin, Nelon Pascal, Veerasammy Permaul, Krishmar Santokie and Devon Thomas.