Chris Gayle returns to West Indies squad for England one-day series
- Published
Chris Gayle will play international cricket for the first time in 14 months after being recalled by West Indies for the one-day series against England.
The 32-year-old former captain has been out of the team following a dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board.
Dwayne Bravo returns as vice-captain, while all-rounder Kieron Pollard and spinner Sunil Narine are also included in the 15-man squad.
The three-match series begins at Hampshire's Ageas Bowl on 16 June.
Gayle, the fourth highest-scoring West Indies batsman in ODI cricket with 8,087 runs at an average of 39.06 from 228 matches, has not played for his country since the World Cup quarter-final defeat by Pakistan, external in March 2011.
The cavalier left-hander, who was involved in contract disputes with the WICB in 2009, when much of the team took strike action,, external was left out of the team for a series with Pakistan soon after the 2011 World Cup defeat and was highly critical of the WICB and coach Ottis Gibson in a radio interview.
During his absence he played in Twenty20 tournaments across the world and was the leading scorer in this year's Indian Premier League with 733 runs, including a fine 128 from 62 balls.
Clyde Butts, chairman of the selection panel, said: "Chris is a player of proven quality and we are looking forward to him adding this dimension to the side and his contributions as a senior member of the squad."
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the number one-ranked batsman in Test cricket, has been overlooked along with openers Adrian Barath and Kieron Powell, who struggled in the first two Tests.
Narine, a 24-year-old off-spinner from Trinidad who has taken 14 wickets in eight ODIs, was the second leading wicket-taker in the IPL with 24 victims at 13.50 apiece. He also boasted the second lowest economy rate in the competition.
Butts added: "There is a balanced combination of young rising players like Sunil Narine in the bowling department and Johnson Charles in the top order of the batting - in addition to the well known seasoned internationals."
West Indies lost the first two Tests - and the series - against England, with the final match at Edgbaston starting on Thursday.
West Indies one-day squad: Darren Sammy (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice-captain), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wicketkeeper), Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith.