Chairman of the West Indies selection panel Clive Lloyd says that the West Indies is missing mystery spinner Sunil Narine at the current World Cup being played in Australia and New Zealand.
The T&T player was selected for the tournament but decided against touring, saying that he was not comfortable with his bowling action just yet. Narine was called for an illegal bowling action during the 2014 Champions League T20 tournament in India and had to remodel his action. He did and was very successful in the Nagico Super50, where he bowled the Red Force to the title.
Lloyd speaking in Perth said: “Sunil (Narine) is one of the best one day bowlers in the world and with him not here he is sorely missed. Look at the scores we have been posting, 300 runs pretty consistently. If he was here, people won’t be able to chase that down. We miss him, we miss his wicket-taking ability, his economy rate and the fact that he is a game changer. All of these are reasons why we miss Sunil but he is not here, so we have to do without him.”
Lloyd added that he thinks Narine’s problems with his bowling action are over.
It’s obvious they (officials) thought he was throwing but he has rectified that. He played for Trinidad & Tobago and did quite well. His action has been passed, so I don’t see the issue anymore.”
Lloyd who was the most successful West Indies captain ever is hoping to have Narine back in maroon quickly, although he has not been able to communicate with his agents :”I tried to get through to his agent and was unsuccessful but he has promised me that he wants to play Test cricket and one-dayers for the West Indies, so I am hoping he will make himself available for the England Series…I hope!”
Since the Nagico Super50 series, Narine has not even appeared for the Red Force in the WICB Professional Cricket League (PCL) that is currently on in the Caribbean. He has been playing for Queen’s Park in the domestic cricket league in T&T and has been doing well.
West Indies hosts England and Australia in that order in Test matches this coming season in the region and Narine is more than likely going to miss the England series, to fulfil his Indian Premier League obligations. The IPL starts April 8 and ends on May 24, and the Test series against England in the Caribbean starts on April 13 and ends on May 5.
