Chris Gayle returns for T20 series against England

St. John’s (Antigua), March 6 (IANS/CMC) Explosive opening batsman Chris Gayle has returned to the West Indies squad for the three-match Twenty20 series against England, starting on Sunday.

The left-hander has been out of action with back problems since the first T20 of the Ireland series last month, and he also missed the recent three-match One-Day International (ODI) series against England at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, reports CMC.

Injury forced him to miss the limited over phase of the tour of India last year, and the subsequent New Zealand tour.

Gayle will add firepower to a West Indies top order that has recently struggled for fluency, and which was below par against minnows Ireland.

T20 captain Darren Sammy assumes reins of the side which plays the other two matches of the series Tuesday and Thursday at Kensington Oval.

The 15-man West Indies squad will use the series as preparation for the defence of their Twenty20 World Cup title in Bangladesh later this month.

The squad:

Darren Sammy (captain), Samuel Badree, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith.