Radford: Badree, Narine key to Windies attack

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

West Indies assistant coach Toby Radford sees the spin duo of Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree as a trump card in the upcoming four-match Twenty20 series against Pakistan starting here tomorrow.

The pair are among the best in the world in the shortest format with leg-spinner Badree ranked number three and off-spinner Narine ranked seventh, and Radford said he expects them to be a handful for the Pakistani batsmen.

"They are guys who have been there and won World Cups. They've played in all the Twenty20 tournaments around the world," Radford said here.

"They are quality players and they will know who they are bowling at here [because] they would have played against these Pakistan batters before, so there's lot of experience, a lot of quality, and you can't buy that.

"So it's great to have those in the side, and the younger guys will obviously learn from them and pick up a lot from their skill."

The 36-year-old Badree is a T20 specialist with 32 internationals to his name along with 42 wickets at an economy rate of just over 5.5 runs an over.

All told, he has taken 151 wickets in 154 T20s.

Fellow Trinidadian Narine has taken 40 wickets from 39 T20Is at an economy rate of six, and has hauled in 264 scalps in 212 T20s overall.

Selectors have also surprisingly included left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul in the

16-man squad and Radford said he was pleased to see the 27-year-old in the Windies set-up.

"Permaul, I remember him from the HPC when we ran the HPC here in Barbados four or five years ago," the Englishman recalled. "He was always a quality spinner so I'm delighted he's getting an opportunity."

The opening T20I bowls off at Kensington Oval with the remaining three set for Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad on March 30, April 1 and 2.