Cricket with Dalchand Bissoon

Five senior players of the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force have withdrawn from the squad for the WICB Professional Cricket League (PCL) Four- Day competition which resumes tomorrow (Feb. 6).

The five players are Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul and Kevon Cooper.

According to the chairman of the Trinidad & Tobago selection panel, the players withdrew for varying reasons.

“Dwayne is not available to play in the First Class format and hence we did not consider him.”

Narine and Cooper indicated they were not ready for the tournament and would like to work on their respective bowling actions. Pollard indicated to the selectors that he needs time to work on his injury while Rampaul is still recovering from his injury.

T&T Red Force will also have a new team manager following the resignation of Manohar Ramsaran. Ramsaran will be replaced by former national allrounder Roland Sampath.

Meanwhile, Bravo, the West Indies allrounder and former One-Day International captain, last week announced his retirement from test cricket.

Bravo, 31, has played in 40 tests since his debut against England at Lord’s in July 2004 and has scored 2,200 runs with three centuries and 13 half-centuries at an average of 31.42.  He has taken 86 wickets at an average 39.83 and last played for the West Indies against Sri Lanka at Pallekeke in December 2010.

He has also played in 164 ODIs since his debut against England in Georgetown, Guyana, in April 2004 and has scored 2,968 runs with two centuries at an average of 25.36. He has taken 199 wickets at an average of 29.51 and has last played against India at Dharamsala in October 2014.

Bravo was appointed One-Day captain in 2013 replacing Darren Sammy but was recently axed from the captaincy and also dropped from the squad for the tour of South Africa and also the upcoming ICC World Cup which will be played later this month in Australia and New Zealand.

In a statement announcing his retirement from Test cricket, Bravo said, “I have already informed the WICB of this decision and also indicated my desire to continue to represent the West Indies in the shorter format of the game.” He called it “a difficult time” for West Indies cricket and those associated with it but added he still wants to serve the fraternity with “the pride of being a West Indian.”

The WICB Professional Cricket League Regional Four-Day Tournament continues tomorrow with Barbados vs Leeward Islands, Windward Islands vs Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica vs Guyana.

Guyana is leading in the competition with 57 points followed by Jamaica at 50 points, Barbados at 44, Windward Islands at 26, Trinidad & Tobago at 24 and Leeward Islands with 10.