Only five of the 15 World Cup players appear in the latest national cricket squad that was announced this week — but skipper Irving Romaine insists their inexperience will not prove too great a burden on the tour to Europe next month.

Big-name players such as Dean Minors, Clay Smith and Saleem Mukuddem have already announced their retirement from international cricket while other senior figures such Janeiro and Kwame Tucker have opted out of this latest overseas excursion to devote more time to their jobs and families.

As a result, Romaine, Dwayne Leverock, Lionel Cann, Kevin Hurdle and Stephen Outerbridge are the only players who featured in Trinidad that will board the plane to Denmark on August 6, although others such as the hugely talented Malachi Jones and Stefan Kelly will join the squad once their Under-19 commitments are completed.

In the place of those who have moved on are an assortment of familiar and unfamiliar names. Somerset’s young stumper Jekon Edness will take the gloves, and though some encouraging scores this season have hinted at improvements in his batting, he will be required to fill some very large shoes in the absence of Minors.

Elsewhere, the temperamental George O’Brien jr is back in the fold and reportedly working very hard to prove himself after missing out on a World Cup place because of his previous aversion to hard work, while the persistent Ryan Steede returns after he too was left watching rather than playing in Trinidad.

James Celestine, Maurice Lowe, Roderick Masters and Greg Maybury are the untested additions to a new-look squad and Romaine is keen to see what they have to offer.

And he is bullish too about their prospects of beating Holland, against who they play a four-day Intercontinental Cup match and two One Day Internationals — but is more realistic regarding their chances against high-flying Ireland.

“This is a start of a new era and it is question of rebuilding in the absence of a lot of senior players who have moved on or are unavailable,” said the skipper.

“We’re obviously going to miss players of the quality of Dean and Clay. I miss them already! We were very close and played a lot of cricket together, so not having them around suddenly is very strange.

“But the selectors have looked at the people who have been performing in the league so far this year and have decided to give some new guys an opportunity.

“Maurice Lowe began the season with something like six consecutive fifties, Celestine has a couple of hundreds so far this year, Roderick Masters and has looked very good in practice and has been training very hard while Greg Maybury is just a good, young all-round cricketer.

“It will be very interesting to see how we gel. One of the hallmarks of the last team was our togetherness, but now with so many new faces around we’re going to have to start that process over again.

“Yes, we’re in a transitional phase right now, but we’re still going out there to win. We can definitely beat Holland with this team, I’ve got now doubt about that. Ireland might be a little tough, but I’m certainly looking forward to the trip and seeing how well we stand up to the test.”

Squad: Irving Romaine - Captain, Stephen Outerbridge - Vice-Captain, Dwayne Leverock, Lionel Cann, Azeem Pitcher, Kevin Hurdle, Jekon Edness, James Celestine, Maurice Lowe, Roderick Masters, George O’Brien, Arthur Pitcher, Ryan Steede, Greg Maybury (Stefan Kelly, Malachi Jones, Rodney Trott, Christopher Douglas will join the squad in Ireland)