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Baugh and Barath ruled out

Vijay Lokapally

NEW DELHI: The West Indians got down to the business of acclimatisation and training with a session at the Palam ground here on Friday.

The team, however, received a jolt when wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh and opener Adrian Barath were ruled out of the World Cup on account of hamstring injuries. The team management is awaiting clearance from the International Cricket Council (ICC) on the replacements — Kirk Edwards and wicketkeeper Devon Thomas.

Coach Ottis Gibson said Darren Bravo might be compelled to keep wickets against South Africa (on Wednesday) if the replacements did not arrive by then. “Bravo did a fantastic job (as wicketkeeper) in the second warm-up match (against Sri Lanka),” said Gibson.

Well prepared

Looking ahead, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, a veteran of four World Cups, said: “The team has worked hard for the World Cup. We played the ODI series in Sri Lanka (in January) and were able to assess the team. We are well prepared and waiting to do our job.”

The left-hander, with an experience of 263 ODIs, said the slow bowlers would play a big role in the tournament. “Spin will play an important role in the subcontinent. We saw that in the warm-up game. We have played in the subcontinent and know what to expect.”

Chanderpaul also admitted he had a specific role to do — “to bat as long as possible” with the juniors.

Gibson said the team would miss Fidel Edwards and Jerome Taylor.

“For the last four-five years they have led the attack. You are going to struggle without them but we have some good young fast bowlers. (Kemar) Roach is talented; (Andre) Russell is an exciting prospect; (Ravi) Rampaul has been playing for a long time. We have a good group of bowlers who need support.”

Gibson, who believed he had the team that could “go the distance,” expected his batsmen to guide the youngsters.

“We have (Chris) Gayle who can be destructive on his day. We have the experience of Chanderpaul and (Ramnaresh) Sarwan is one of our top players. The World Cup is a high intensity tournament and every match is important for us,” he said.

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