Budding fast bowler Malachi Jones has been promoted to the senior national squad for the upcoming tour of Canada following a series of impressive performances for the Under-19s and Southampton Rangers.

While more renowned for his batting in his early teenage years, it is Jones? seam bowling which has blossomed dramatically this season, with national coach Gus Logie admitting yesterday to being excited by the 16-year-old?s lively pace and strong, upright action.

Jones ? a Cup Match colt this year ? has been picked in the squad for the four-day Intercontinental Cup game with Canada from August 11-14 ahead of English-based seamer Stefan Kelly, who has been tipped by many observers to be the future of quick bowling on the Island along with George O?Brien jr.

Kelly, however, will join up with the team for the Americas Championship which gets underway in Toronto from August 22-28.

?It?s exciting to have a young fast bowler like Malachi in the squad,? Logie said.

?It?s been a policy of ours in the past to give youngsters like him an opportunity to be part of the squad and see whether they fit into the environment. We did it last year with Rodney Trott as well so it will be interesting to see how young Malachi fares. He has certainly done well with the Under-19s and whenever I?ve seen him he?s been impressive, particularly given how young he is.?

Meanwhile, national team captain Clay Smith has recovered sufficiently from his knee operation to be part of both squads, though according to Logie, he will not resume the captaincy until it is certain he is fully healed.

Irving Romaine will remain at the helm in the interim, Logie added.

If he continues to prove his fitness, however, the talismanic Smith is certain to be part of the XI for the four-day match, though he will probably sit out most of the one-day games as he continues to take a softly-softly approach to what has already been a lengthy rehabilitation.

Elsewhere, OJ Pitcher and Delyone Borden have only made themselves available for the Intercontinental Cup as they will return home soon after to get ready for college in Florida, while Kwame Tucker (hamstring) is expected to be fit by the mid-point of the tour to take their place along with Kelly.

Seamer Kevin Hurdle has also recovered from a hamstring strain sustained in the final Somerset Cup Match trial and will be competing for a bowling slot along with Ryan Steede ? recently returned from a spell of club cricket in England.

The main casualty of this latest squad is Warwick batsman and former team physio Daniel Morgan ? whose disastrous run of form during back-to-back tours of both Trinidad and the UK earlier this year has cost him his international place ? while there is no space either for Somerset left-hander Azeem Pitcher.

After a run of positive results against Canada over the last year in both forms of the game, Logie said the squad was in confident mood ahead of their month-long trip ? particularly in light of Smith?s return to the fold.

?To have Clay back playing again is very good news,? he said.

?As people could see during Cup Match he looks in pretty good nick and he has a presence in the squad which helps to lift everybody. He is extremely strong mentally as well, which will be an important quality in the four-day game against Canada.

?We?ve had a pretty good run against Canada recently, but we are all aware that Canada at home are formidable opponents and we will not be taking them lightly.

?But the players know what it takes to beat the likes of Canada and teams like the Cayman Islands and the US because they have done it before, so if we play to our potential I have a feeling this could be a successful tour for us.

?The four-day game will be interesting because it is new territory for the players. But we have spoken about what is required in that sort of cricket and they know how important it will be to be more patient at the crease and bowling consistently in the right areas for long spells.

?We?ve got to concentrate session by session and if we can win two out of three per day, we should end up on top. But we beat Canada in three days last year in Toronto ? so perhaps we can do the same thing again!?