Tino Best, Darren Sammy and Floyd Reifer were not who Bangladesh were expecting to play in the first Test against the West Indies starting on Thursday at Arnos Vale. After the entire 13-man West Indies squad, led by captain Chris Gayle, announced on Tuesday they were boycotting the home series against the Bangladeshis following a contract dispute, the West Indies Cricket Board scurried to put together a new team in less than 48 hours.

The WICB managed to summon former Test players Best, Sammy, Floyd Reifer and Dave Bernard Jr., some from the West Indies A side which drew with Bangladesh in a three-day match last weekend, and some from the regional under-19 tournament. But Bangladesh weren’t impressed.

Reifer, two weeks shy of his 37th birthday, played the last of his four Tests in January 1999 but enjoyed a prolific 2009 regional season as captain of Combined Colleges and Campuses. Off-spinner Ryan Austin, all-rounder Andre Creary and fast bowlers Kemar Roach, Kevin McClean and Nelon Pascal appeared last weekend for West Indies A, and coming from the under-19 tournament in Jamaica was Barbados’ 16-year-old batting prodigy Kraigg Brathwaite.

“We want to play the first team,” Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said on Wednesday. “We would like to play against Chris Gayle, (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul and others. We want to play them because we can learn so many things when those guys are batting or bowling.”

Although 11 of the new 15-man squad trained with West Indies coach John Dyson on Wednesday, there was no official confirmation of the squad or the captain. Dyson tried to put a positive spin on the situation. “We’ll just have to do our best, won’t we. (It’s exciting to) see new players with new opportunities. For a lot of these players this is a huge opportunity to showcase their skills. It will be exciting to see how they actually grasp that opportunity and show the Caribbeans that they are here and ready to play.”

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