Sunil Narine included in West Indies World Cup squad

Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard have been dropped for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 while Sunil Narine returns to the team after a gap of three months. The West Indies selection panel, led by Clive Lloyd, made the decision on Saturday as the West Indies went in with a combination of five allrounders, four fast bowlers and two spinners for the tournament starting in February.

Bravo and Pollard, who were in the forefront of the player's strike during the tour of India in October, have missed the flight while Jason Holder, who was named as the ODI skipper for the South Africa series, will lead the side for the World Cup. Marlon Samuels was named vice-captain of the side.

Narine's action was deemed illegal during the Champions League T20 and he was subsequently withdrawn from the tour to India and was not selected for the ODI series against South Africa. However, he was only suspended from bowling in BCCI-organized tournaments while there were no restrictions on him representing the national side.

Darren Bravo, who missed the South Africa tour due to personal reasons, has been included while Kemar Roach, who flew back home following an ankle injury in the first Test at Centurion, also makes it to the squad. Roach was one of the star performers in the 2011 World Cup, where he picked up 6/27, including a hat-trick in the league match against the Netherlands in New Delhi.

The most experienced ODI player in the squad is opener Chris Gayle with 258 appearances. Samuels (162), Denesh Ramdin (115) and Sammy (115), all have over a hundred ODI games under their belts while Dwayne Smith (94) could achieve his 100th appearance during the World Cup which starts on February 14. Only Sheldon Cottrell and Jonathan Carter yet to debut internationally. Carter and Cottrell are both in the ODI squad to face South Africa in a five-match series to commence shortly.

Speaking about the selection, Lloyd said he had high hopes from the squad which has a mixture of experience and youth. "I believe we have selected a very good team which will do West Indies proud at the World Cup. We have a good mixture of some good seasoned players and some good youngsters who will fly the West Indies flag in Australia and New Zealand. If they play to their potential, I am quite sure we will do very well. I have really high hopes in this team I believe they can do something special. We have the talent and if we can play to our potential we have a very good chance of lifting that trophy."

West Indies start their campaign on February 16 against Ireland at Nelson. Their first big clash is against Pakistan at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on February 21 while they play Zimbabwe in Canberra on February 24. They take on South Africa in Sydney on February 27 while they take on defending champions India on March 06 in Perth. Their final league game is against the UAE on March 15 in Napier.