Walsh to strengthen Windies Down Under

Walsh, 38, is the all-time leader in Test cricket history with 473 wickets, 39 more than Indian Kapil Dev. Walsh had publicly debated retiring from the game following the West Indies’ 3-1 series loss in September to England.

In the Jamaica Observer newspaper daily, he was quoted as saying he believed it would hurt the West Indies to lose him and 37-year-old Curtley Ambrose, who retired in September, in the same year.

He said he was not staying in the game just to make the 500-wicket mark.

“I am hoping that my presence will help some of the younger players come through,” Walsh said.

Black, Stuart, Jeremy and Dillon all proved themselves during `A’ team’s home series against South Africa `A’.

Black, a Trinidadian, is a tall, powerful 25-year-old who is earning his first call-up.

Antiguan Jeremy, 20, and Guyanese journeyman Stuart, 27, were both previously chosen for the recently concluded ICC Knock-out one-day tournament in Nairobi, Kenya. Both are accurate fast medium, rather than tear-away quick.

McLean and Nagamootoo are the only survivors with Walsh on the bowling attack on the unsuccessful summer tour of England. McLean, with 12 Tests behind him, will be Walsh’s most seasoned bowling colleague in Australia.

Walsh’s longtime new ball partner, Curtly Ambrose, retired after the West Indies’ 3-1 series loss to England in September. The 37-year-old Ambrose took 405 wickets in his 98 Tests. Three other pacers on that tour, Franklyn Rose, Corey Collymore and Reon King, were omitted after inconsistent performances.

Jimmy Adams, who took over as captain earlier this year after star batsman Brian Lara resigned the position, is retained as skipper. He and Lara are among seven batsmen chosen.

Only one, Trinidad and Tobago’s Daren Ganga, was not on the tour of England. A right-handed opening batsman who has played four Tests, the 21-year-old Ganga is included at the expense of left-handers Adrian Griffith and Chris Gayle.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who missed the bulk of the England series because of a strained forearm, returns to boost the batting. Experienced opener Sherwin Campbell, Wavell Hinds and Ramnares Sarwan complete the line-up.

Ridley Jacobs, the incumbent wicket-keeper since making a late debut at the age of 31 on the 1998-99 tour of South Africa, will be challenged for the No. 1 spot by 29-year-old Barbadian Courtney Browne.

Browne, who played the last of his 13 Tests against Sri Lanka at Arnos Vale in 1997, was recently preferred to Jacobs for the one-day tournament in Kenya in October.

The five-Test tour runs from November 7 to January 6, with the opening Test in Brisbane from November 23-27. The selectors will name a separate team for the triangular one-day series that follows the Tests.

The Test squad: Jimmy Adams (Captain), Sherwin Campbell, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Ridley Jacobs, Courtney Browne, Daren Ganga, Marlon Black, Colin Stuart, Kerry Jeremy, Nixon McLean, Mervyn Dillon, Courtney Walsh, Mahendra Nagamootoo.

Tied test combatants to reunite

BRISBANE: Forty years after one of cricket’s greatest Test matches, the two teams that played in the 1960 tied test will return to Brisbane for five days of public and private celebrations.

The Australian Cricket Board and Queensland Cricket Association confirmed on Wednesday that 23 of the 25 surviving members of the West Indian and Australian squads from the 1960-61 series would be in the country in the leadup to this year’s first Test between the 2000 editions of the teams.

Among those present will be Richie Benaud, alan Davidson, Norm O’Neill and Bobby Simpson as well as West Indian bowling greats Wes Hall and Lance Gibbs.