Vishal, Hetmyer gain favour but Bravo remains sidelined

Successful Youth World Cup skipper Shimron Hetmyer and Guyana Jaguars teammate Vishal Singh were poised for their first tastes of international cricket after being picked in a 13-man squad to face Pakistan in the opening Test of the three-match series starting in Jamaica on Friday.
Selectors announced the squad on Monday, the final day of the three-day tour game against the Pakistanis in which the 28-year-old Singh hit an unbeaten 135 and the 20-year-old Hetmyer narrowly missed out on three figures with an attacking 97.
Left-hander Kieran Powell will also make his return to the longest form of the game after ending a self-imposed two-year break and subsequently turning out in recent three-match one-day series against England and Pakistan.
As expected, the squad will be led by all-rounder Jason Holder and includes the core of the group which lost to Pakistan in a three-Test series in United Arab Emirates late last year but no room has been found for the experienced duo of Marlon Samuels or Darren Bravo.
West Indies, however, will find themselves short on experience once again as Samuels, who averages 32 from 71 Tests and the enterprising Bravo, who averages 40 from 49 Tests, have been overlooked.
Bravo has not played competitively since he was sent home from the one-day tour of Zimbabwe last November for a tweet deemed offensive to West Indies Cricket Board president, Dave Cameron. The board has remained palpably silent on the matter.
He was good enough to average 45 on the three-Test tour against Pakistan last year.
West Indies clash with the Pakistanis in the opening Test at Sabina Park.
SQUAD – Jason Holder (captain), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Kraigg Brathwaite, Roston Chase, Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Kieran Powell, Vishal Singh. (CMC)