by TONY COZIER

WEST INDIES' firepower has been appreciably diminished for the forthcoming tour of Australia by the absence of their fastest bowler and leading wicket-taker Fidel Edwards.

Edwards was omitted from the 15 named on Monday for the November 18 to December 20 trip, featuring three Tests, because of the latest of the injuries that have plagued him during his career.

Persistent problems with his left knee and back have kept him out of action since he was forced to withdraw from the Super 8 match against England in the World Twenty20 championship in London last June 15.

His 90-mile-an-hour pace and swing have earned the 26-year-old Barbadian with the bounding, slingshot action 122 wickets in his 43 Tests since he marked his debut with a five for 36 return against Sri Lanka in Kingston in 2003.

It places him 15th on the West Indies' all-time list, but injuries of one kind or another have repeatedly interrupted his appearances.

He said yesterday that pain in his critical left knee kept him out of the Barbados team for the current regional One-Day President's Cup tournament in Guyana. What is more, he revealed that his back, the cause of his withdrawal from the World Twenty20, was "acting up again".

"I'm scheduled to have a scan on the knee and that should tell just how serious the problem is," he said.

He is being treated in Barbados by Dr. A. L. Harper, a specialist in sports medicine.

Edwards was understandably "disappointed" to miss what would have been his second series in Australia following three Tests in 2005 when he had eight expensive wickets.

His hope is that he would be ready to return for the West Indies' four-day, first-class tournament in January.

It is the sixth time injury has kept Edwards out of the Test cricket (see above table). Although his 122 wickets have been expensive at an overall average of 39.43, the 47 he has taken in 13 consecutive Tests before his recent setback were cheaper at 32.74 each.

Edwards' absence provides Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach and Gavin Tonge with an opportunity to make their mark in support of Jerome Taylor, now the experienced spearhead of the attack with a record of 48 Tests and 81 wickets.

Rampaul, 25, played the first of his 36 ODIs in 2003 but is yet to gain Test selection. He was in the 13 named for the first Test against Bangladesh last July before joining the players' strike in the dispute between the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Roach, 21, and Tonge, 26, took the chances offered by the absence of the originally selected fast bowlers to make their mark against Bangladesh and in the subsequent Champions Trophy in South Africa.

Roach had 13 wickets in the two Bangladesh Tests, including an innings return of six for 48 in St George's, and ten wickets in the ODIs, with five for 44 in the first in Roseau.

Tonge's international experience is confined to five ODIs. His impressive 10-3-25-4 figures against India in the Champions Trophy helped clinch his place for Australia.