Bridgetown, February 16:

The West Indies named Marlon Samuels in the 15-man squad for the World Cup they will host next month despite an ongoing probe of his links with an alleged bookmaker.

And selectors also sprung one surprise with the inclusion of Kieron Pollard, 19. Much of the squad had been set in stone, but Pollard has kept out the likes of Darren Sammy and Runako Morton, while Rayad Emrit didn’t even make the reserve list.

Lendl Simmons has taken the final batting slot while Ian Bradshaw, Daren Powell, Corey Collymore and Jerome Taylor are the four pacemen, leaving Fidel Edwards on the sidelines. Samuels’ inclusion came as no real shock despite being accused by Indian police of having passed on team information to a man suspected of being a bookie, Mukesh Kochar, during one-day series in India.

West Indies open the World Cup against Pakistan on March 13, with other pool games against Zimbabwe on March 19 and against Ireland four days later.

SQUAD: Brian Lara (c), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Ian Bradshaw, Corey Collymore, Jerome Taylor, Denesh Ramdin, Devon Smith, Lendl Simmons, Daren Powell, Kieron Pollard.