Windies begin camp for Champions Trophy

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, (CMC):

West Indies kicked off their preparation for next month's Champions Trophy in England with a five-day camp at the High Performance Centre at the 3Ws Oval yesterday.

The sessions are being conducted by head coach Ottis Gibson, with assistant coach Tony Radford and the HPC's Andre Coley also involved in the squad's preparation.

The players currently plying their trade in the Indian Premier League (IPL) will miss the camp, as will Ramnaresh Sarwan, who is on contract with English County side Leicestershire.

Stroke-maker Marlon Samuels, who returned home from the IPL with a groin strain last month, is now recovered and has taken his place at the camp.

The IPL-based players, along with Sarwan, are expected to be available for the second camp in Cardiff, Wales, where the regional squad will fine-tune its preparations for the June 6-23 tournament.

West Indies, who are scheduled to fly out of the Caribbean on Saturday, will play two official warm-up games following the Wales camp. They face Australia in a day/night affair in Cardiff on June 1, before taking on Sri Lanka at Edgbaston three days later.

The Windies will do battle in Group B of the tournament alongside Pakistan, South Africa and India, with Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand and the hosts, comprising Group A.

West Indies open against Pakistan at the Oval on June 7 and follow up against India, four days later, at the same venue. They travel to Cardiff for their final preliminary round game against the Proteas on June 14.

The last time the Champions Trophy was played in England, in 2004, West Indies beat England in a thrilling final at the Oval. This edition of the final will be the last to be staged.