KINGSTON, Jamaica: The tension between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the WICB appears to have eased slightly, with the batsman set to play in the Test series against Pakistan starting next week.
The West Indies side for the first Test has not been officially released, but ESPNcricinfo has learnt from a reliable source that the squad includes Chanderpaul, who was axed for the one-day series that concludes in Guyana on Thursday.
The Test squad will also include the fast bowler Fidel Edwards, who hasn’t played for West Indies since the tour of England in mid-2009. The uncapped batsman Kraigg Brathwaite, 18, is also expected to be named, after an impressive few months of first-class cricket, which was followed by his unbeaten 168 for West Indies Under-19s against Australia last month.
During the past two weeks, Chanderpaul and the West Indies board CEO Ernest Hilaire have been involved in a war of words over the batsman’s treatment after the World Cup. Chanderpaul claimed he had been asked by the West Indies selectors to retire at the end of the World Cup, and that he was dropped from the ODI squad when he refused to quit.
He was also upset at Hilaire’s comments that for 15 years, the West Indies side had lacked discipline and application. Chanderpaul took that as a personal affront, and said he was concerned that, having just been dropped from the side, it would create the impression that he was an indisciplined individual, had not applied himself.
