Spinner Narine withdraws from Windies World Cup squad

Off-spinner Sunil Narine has withdrawn from the West Indies World Cup squad while he continues to work on his controversial bowling action, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said on Tuesday.

Narine was reported for a suspect action twice during the Champions League Twenty20 tournament in September and was unable to play in the final for his team Kolkata Knight Riders.

Although not banned from international competition he was withdrawn from the West Indies squad for their tour of India and is not with the team currently playing in South Africa.

He was named as part of the 15-man World Cup squad however and has been playing in regional cricket.

"Narine has undergone intense remedial work on his bowling action and preliminary tests have shown him bowling all his deliveries under the 15 degrees flexion allowance," the WICB said in a statement.

"However, he requires more time to be able to confidently bowl for a sustained period in international cricket with his new action."

Narine indicated he needed more games and practice to get fully adjusted to his new action.

“Going in to the World Cup is a little too much too soon and, after consulting the WICB, for both West Indies and my sake we have decided to delay my return to international cricket until I am 100 percent confident in all that I do,” Narine said.

Narine would have been West Indies' main spin bowler in the tournament. Slow left-armer Sulieman Benn is also in the squad and the WICB is expected to name a replacement for Narine soon.

Image: Sunil Narine

Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images