Ravi Rampaul, the fiery teenage pacer from Trinidad and Tobago reached the pinnacle of West Indies cricket yesterday when he was named in the senior team’s touring party to Zimbabwe for a two-Test series.

Rampaul joins junior pacers Barbadian Fidel Edwards and Jamaican Jerome Taylor along with the resurgent Corey Collymore and the experienced Merv Dillon and Vasbert Drakes in the bowling line up. Omari Banks is the lone specialist spinner in the squad, though since only seven batsmen were selected he appears to be filling the role of the specialist all-rounder.

The batsmen are captain, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan who was retained as the vice captain, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels and Daren Ganga. Left-handed Grenadian opener, Devon Smith, who gained a call up for the recent Cable & Wireless homes series when he scored only one half-century failed to make the final cut after a horrid time in the Red Stripe Bowl, scoring only 61 runs at an average of 20.33.

Also not making the squad are Darren Powell, Dinanath Ramnarine and Dave Mohamed, who all bowled well throughout the Red Stripe Bowl and were touted to have been in the mix. Powell and Ramnarine in particular were in very fine form. The lean Jamaican pacer bowled with pace and hostility while Ramnarine, having shed excess weight looked to be bowling as well as he was when he had originally made the team for 12 Tests.

In the RSB Ramnarine is so far the joint leading wicket taker with Mahendra Nagamootoo, having bagged 12 scalps, while Powell is joint sixth on the list with 8 wickets from five matches.

Rampaul also took eight, but in four games and was the talk of Antigua during Zone B when it was reported that he was bowling with great pace and hostility, impressing chairman of selectors Sir Viv Richards.

Some analysts have already noted that the team seems somewhat unbalanced with only seven specialist batsmen, two keepers, six specialist bowlers and the one all-rounder in Banks. In addition, they are skeptical about the wisdom of carrying three young and inexperienced pacers who have three Test matches among them, especially when Collymore and Drakes only have ten Tests between them.

Drakes has been given the edge most obviously on account of his vast experience of the African conditions, having played for the larger part of his professional life in South Africa.

Kenny Benjamin, a former West Indies Test and One-Day player is the new bowling coach who will act as an assistant to Gus Logie. Ricky Skerritt has been retained as manager, while South African Sunet Liedenberg, who worked as the team’s physiotherapist during their 2003 World Cup campaign is also part of the touring party.

The 16 man squad: Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice captain), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Christopher Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels, Darren Ganga, Ridley Jaocbs, Carlton Baugh Jr., Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Corey Collymore, Omari Banks, Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards and Ravi Rampaul.