Hit by boycott, Windies assemble new side

By Simon Evans

MIAMI (Reuters) - The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) scrambled to get a team together for the first test against Bangladesh starting Thursday after the selected players decided to boycott the match due to contract disputes.

West Indies Cricket Board president Julian Hunte told Reuters Wednesday that the test match would go ahead but said the team would not be announced until shortly before the game due to fears about intimidation of players.

"We are playing a test match in St. Vincent against Bangladesh that is all I can say," Hunte told Reuters by telephone.

Hunte declined to comment on the recruitment of players but said there had been "a lot of intimidation of players."

The WICB chief declined to comment on who had carried out the intimidation or give any details about which players had been approached.

However, the cricket website of West Indies sponsors Digicel named 11 players who took part in a practice at the Arnos Vale ground in St. Vincent Wednesday.

None of the original 13 squad members were named among those practising but several players with test experience were listed.

All-rounder Darren Sammy, who played in the Twenty20 World Cup but was left out of the recent ODI series against India; Barbadian pace bowler Tino Best and 36-year-old Floyd Reifer, whose last of four test appearances was in 1999, were among those named as practising.