GAYLE RULED OUT

West Indies and Jamaica captain Chris Gayle will miss the first Jamaica match in the Stanford 20/20 Tournament. Gayle sustained two injuries in South Africa while playing for the West Indies and returned home prematurely. The 28 year old left handed veteran of 176 One Day Internationals and 70 Tests has not yet fully recovered and the Jamaica Cricket Association has sought and received approval for him to be replaced in the squad by Andre McCarthy.

SAMUELS REPORTED

The ICC today confirmed that West Indies bowler Marlon Samuels has been reported for a suspected illegal bowling action on one particular delivery by the match officials following completion of the third Test match betweenSouth Africa and the West Indies in Durban on Saturday. The report was made by on-field umpires Simon Taufel and Aleem Dar, and third umpire Brian Jerling. ICC Match Referee Roshan Mahanama has informed both the ICC and the West Indies team management of the report, as per the ICC regulations governing the reporting process.

PARCHMENT FINED 50%

West Indies opening batsman Brenton Parchment has been found guilty under Level 2 of the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct following an incident that took place during the third Test between South Africa and the West Indies in Durban. Parchment, playing in his first Test match, was fined 50 per cent of his match fee by Roshan Mahanama of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees. The charge was laid by the four on-duty umpires, on-field officials Simon Taufel and Aleem Dar, third umpire Brian Jerling and reserve umpire Zed Ndamane, after the close of play on day two of the match on Friday.

3RD TEST PREVIEW

The West Indies squad of 16 players will remain thesame for the third and Final Test match against South Africa at SaharaStadium, Kingsmead, Durban. The series is level 1-1. The West Indies won the first Test at Sahara Oval, StGeorge’s; Port Elizabeth by 128 runs, while South Africa won the secondmatch at Sahara Park, Newlands; Cape Town by seven wickets. Captain Chris Gayle has indicated he will not recover in time toface the South Africans in the final game. Gayle is recovering from ahamstring strain and fractured left thumb – which he noted could keep himout for a minumum of two weeks.Fast bowler Fidel Edwards is also recovering from a hamstring injury andwill continue to be monitored on a day-to-day basis.

2009 TWENTY20 GROUPS NAMED

The International Cricket Council have announced the four groupings for the ICC World Twenty20 taking place in England in 2009. West Indies have been drawn along side Australia and Sri Lanka.