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An appeal from the West Indies captain Brian Lara for more teeth in his bowling attack has again fallen on deaf ears.

The West Indies selection panel, comprising convenor Joey Carew, Gordon Greenidge, Clyde Butts, and head coach Bennett King, have retained all but one of the players that formed the squad in St. Lucia for the second Test.

This means that Lara’s request of the selection committee to pick a fast bowler of genuine pace to replace the injured Fidel Edwards was unheeded, and he will have to make the most of Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Jerome Taylor, Ian Bradshaw, and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.

All five seam bowlers played in the second Test that ended on Wednesday at the Beausejour Cricket Ground, where India flayed 588 for eight declared, with Virender Sehwag smashing 180, Mohammed Kaif scoring 148 not out, and Rahul Dravid collecting 146.

Lara told reporters after the Test in St. Lucia that he had spoken to the selectors and he was getting a negative feedback to his appeal for a fast bowler capable of delivering at 90 miles an hour or higher.

Like many of his counterparts around the world, Lara is not a member of the selection committee, and he noted that he can only make suggestions about what he requires to fashion a successful side.

Lara observed that the batsmen in the Indian side disliked the ball which bounces above waist high, and he felt he needed a genuine fast bowler to exploit this area .

The only change to the squad of 13 that was announced late on Friday sees batsman Marlon Samuels replacing left-arm chinaman bowler Dave Mohammad.

West Indies squad: Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice-captain), Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Runako Morton, Denesh Ramdin, Marlon Samuels and Jerome Taylor.

Source:The News