Back to Ricardo

Ricardo Powell was yesterday given a chance to relaunch a career that initially took off like a Saturn rocket but has since come crashing back to earth.

The 23-year-old Jamaican has been picked in the West Indies team for the upcoming seven One-Day Internationals in India in the obvious hope that, with the World Cup in South Africa three months away, he can regain the batting sparkle that made him an immediate sensation three years ago.

His athleticism in the field and his improving off-spin bowling are other assets in the shorter form of the game, but it is his potential to turn a match with his explosive hitting that has prompted Sir Viv Richards and his selection panel to recall him.

He burst onto the scene in a triangular tournament in Singapore in September 1999 with an unbeaten 51 off 38 balls against Zimbabwe and 46 off 44 against India in the preliminaries.

But it was his match-winning 124 off 93 balls, with eight sixes and nine fours, in the victory over India that marked him as a hot prospect. Sadly, he did not fulfil that promise.

Fast bowlers Jermaine Lawson and Darren Powell and all-rounder Gareth Breese are omitted.

The squad includes 33-year-old Barbadian all-rounder Vasbert Drakes.

He was recalled for the Champion Trophy after seven years during which his professional contract with South African provincial team Border coincided with the West Indies season and rendered him ineligible.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) amended the qualification rule in July, clearing the way for Drakes once he participated in the Red Stripe Bowl. His experience, ability as late-order batsman and knowledge of South African conditions make him a near certainty for the World Cup.

The Squad: Carl Hooper (captain), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Cameron Cuffy, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Ryan Hinds, Wavell Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels and Ramnaresh Sarwan.