ST JOHN’S (Antigua), Feb 18: The West Indies captain Darren Sammy and opening batsman Chris Gayle have been left out of the squad to face Zimbabwe in a three-match One-day International series which starts on Friday.

Sammy is rested after playing every match for the West Indies in the past two years with Dwayne Bravo taking over the captaincy.

“Gayle has asked to miss the ODI series and has been granted permission accordingly,” said a West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) statement.

No reason was given for Gayle’s decision to skip the series.

The West Indies endured a disappointing tour of Australia which ended last week.

They lost all five One-day Internationals before clinching a morale-boosting 27-run win in a one-off Twenty20 International in Brisbane in their last outing.

Zimbabwe will play three One-day Internationals against West Indies in Grenada on Feb 22, Feb 24 and Feb 26. The tourists will also play two Twenty20 Internationals as well as two Tests.

West Indies squad (for first two ODIs): Dwayne Bravo (captain), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Narsingh Deonarine, Sunil Narine, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieron Pollard, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Ramnaresh Sarwan.—AFP