KINGSTON, Jamaica – Members of the Sagicor West Indies High Performance Centre team will have a chance to provide evidence of what they have learnt over the last few months when they face a Jamaica Under-23 side, starting on Tuesday at Sabina Park here.
Graeme West, the head coach of the Sagicor WIHPC team, said the match is the highlight of a one-week tour of the island and will form part of the overall development of the players.
"It’s a short tour, but we believe the players will gain a lot from the exercise," he told WICB Media.
"They have spent a lot of time at the Sagicor HPC headquarters in Barbados over the last six months honing their skills and they have participated, with some success, in the club competition on the island.
"This is an opportunity to travel and play in different conditions as a group against tough, talented competition. This will give us a very good idea where the players are as individuals and as a group."
West said it would also be an opportunity for a number of the young players that never played a four-day match a chance to play the longer format.
"We had a few warm-up games in Barbados before we arrived in Jamaica and they prepared us nicely," he said.
"It is really for the batsmen to spend more time at the crease and learn to construct an innings and for the bowlers to give proof of the discipline and consistency that they have worked on with bowling coach Roddy Estwick, West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson and Saqlain Mushtaq."
Test opener Adrian Barath is expected to give the team a boost for the match, after he returned from India, where he was a member of the Trinidad & Tobago team, which reached the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty20.
He will also be looking to give a firm reminder of his talent and build his confidence with a big score.
The squad also includes fast bowler Ronsford Beaton. He too, recently returned from India, where he was a member of the West Indies A-Team that won a three-match One-day series with the hosts’ A-Team 2-1 before losing a Twenty20 contest.
Opener Kraigg Brathwaite however, is not part of the squad, having just returned from the A-Team "Tests" against India-A, where he was the top West Indies-A batsman with 344 runs at 68.80, nor is Akeal Hosein, who is injured.
Jamaica’s Andre Creary, a graduate of the Sagicor WIHPC, has been added to the squad.
Squad
John Campbell (captain)
Adrian Barath
Ronsford Beaton
Quinton Boatswain
Andre Creary
Chandrapaul Hemraj
Steven Katwaroo
Kyle Mayers
Dalton Polius
Raymon Reifer
Tyrone Theophile
Hayden Walsh Jr
Team Management
Graeme West (Head Coach)
Andre Coley (Assistant Coach)
Dominic Angoy (Physiotherapist)
Alex Forde (Fitness Trainer)