Dillon and Ganga dropped

The West Indies have named a 16-man squad to assemble in Jamaica for a training camp in preparation for the first Test against England, which begins at Sabina Park on March 11. Brian Lara will captain the side, for the series against England, and the one that follows against Bangladesh.

The squad, which will be trimmed to 13 on March 8, has its fair share of surprises, with Mervyn Dillon and Darren Ganga both missing out. Dwight Washington is the surprise pick, after taking 20 wickets at 22 for West Indies B in the Carib Beer Cup.

Dillon and Ganga miss out after some woeful performances home and away - most notably when West Indies were thrashed out of sight in South Africa - and there was also no place in the squad for Vasbert Drakes.

Some of the more eye-catching performances in the Carib Beer Series have been ignored, with Pedro Collins, Dwayne Bravo and Andrew Richardson not considered for selection.

Washington, however, appears to be on the fast track, having also been chosen in Jamaica's 15-man squad to face England on March 1. He could share the new ball there with Jermaine Lawson, on the comeback trail after being reported with a suspect action last season. Lawson is not part of the squad, though a good performance against England could push him into the reckoning.

The selectors have also given Ricardo Powell an opportunity to prove that he's not a one-day specialist alone. Powell has thus far played just the one Test for the West Indies, making 0 and 30 against New Zealand in 1999.

Squad Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ridley Jacobs, Dwayne Smith, Fidel Edwards, Corey Collymore, Dave Mohammed, Ricardo Powell, Carlton Baugh, Tino Best, Ryan Hinds, Adam Sanford and Dwight Washington.