Robert Samuels is bowled by left arm spinner Ryan Cunningham during yesterday's final Red Stripe Bowl trial at Melbourne Oval yesterday. THREE newcomers were yesterday named in Jamaica's 14-man squad for 2000 Red Stripe Bowl limited overs cricket competition.
David Bernard Jnr, Brenton Parchment and wicketkeeper Keith Hibbert come into the side for the first time while Jamaica Defence Force's hard-hitting lefthander Wayne Cuff returns after a five-year break.
Cuff scored over 400 runs in the Sandals limited overs competition, where his team lost in the final. Bernard Jnr. and Parchment who were part of Jamaica's under-19 team which lost in the final to the Windward Islands recently, aquitted themselves well in the second one-day game before rain forced halted the game.
Wicketkeeper Hibbert, 22, has been steady behind the wicket all season for St. Catherine Cricket Club and had a wonderful season with the bat, scoring three centuries in the Rothmans Cricket Championship.
West Indies pacer Franklyn Rose, along with Laurie Williams, Marlon Samuels and Wavell Hinds who represented the West Indies team in Kenya are all in the squad.
"I am very satisfied with squad that we selected," said chairman of selectors Ruddy Williams yesterday.
"It was not very dificult to make the selections. We felt that Brian Murphy (legspinner), Ryan Cunningham (left-arm) , Gareth Breese (offspinner) are better quality bowlers than the rest of medium pacers we have and that's the reason why we opted to leave out a couple of the pacers," added Williams.
Robert Samuels, the stand-in captain, is confident the players will do well.
"I think of our chances of winning are extremely good. We have a mixture of youth and experienced players. We have good spinners, allrounders, pacers and batsmen and there is no reason why we cannot succesfully defend our title."
The full squad: Robert Samuels (captain), Brenton Parchment, David Bernard Jnr., Marlon Samuels, Wayne Cuff, Keith Hibbert, Nehemiah Perry, Laurie Williams, Gareth Breeze, Wavell Hinds, Brian Murphy, Ryan Cunningham, Franklyn Rose and Denville McKenzie.
Earlier, the second-one day between Samuels' X1 and Perry's X1 was washed out after Samuels X1 complete their 50 overs.
Samuels X1 won the toss, took first stike and made 230 for seven in their allotted overs.
Bernard Jnr. led the way scoring 73 off 80 balls while Parchment contributed 60 off 97 balls. Bernard struck five boundaries while Parchment hit four boundaries and one six.
By Fitzroy Prendergast
Staff Reporter
