November 04 Monday 2002
WICB officials appoint doctor to travel with team in India

ST. MICHAEL, Barbados: A doctor was appointed to the West Indies cricket team during its seven-match limited-overs series against India, cricket officials said. 

The West Indies Cricket Board appointed Dr. Akshai Mansingh of Jamaica on Friday following a request from team manager Ricky Skerritt, said Michael Hall, the board's chief operations officer.

"Dr. Mansingh has been in India with a tour group watching the ongoing three-test series and offered the team his services at no cost until the tests were over,'' Hall said, without providing more information about Mansingh.

The team will be in India until Nov. 26 when it departs for Bangladesh. In the past, the Caribbean cricket team toured without a doctor, and it was still unclear Saturday why the board appointed Mansingh. 

The cricket board appointed Mansingh, who lives and practices in Jamaica, to the board's medical panel last year, officials said. Hall could not be reached for comment Saturday and further detais about Mansingh weren't immediately available. 

The Antigua-based West Indies Cricket Board made the announcement through a statement issued by a public relations firm in Barbados. 

The cricket board released no further information.