The battle?for the Clive Lloyd Trophy, symbol of Caribbean 50-overs cricket supremacy, starts today in Guyana.
Joint defending champs Barbados will begin their bid for a seventh title when they oppose the youthful High Performance Centre at Everest.
Hosts Guyana will play the Windward Islands in the day’s second match at the National Stadium in Providence.
Barbados will be under a new captain in slimly-built off-spinning all-rounder Kenroy Williams, who played his six regional One-Day matches in 2008 but did not make the team for the last two tournaments.
Williams, a former?Barbados Under-19 skipper who also captained the Shell Academy side in 2005, replaces experienced left-handed all-rounder Ryan Hinds.
Hinds was relieved of his leadership role in an attempt to boost his chances of regaining a place on the West Indies side.
Hinds, 30, is the most experienced member of the Barbados side with 56 regional One-Day matches under his belt since making his debut in 1998.
Fast-bowling all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite and stylish batsman Kyle Hope have never played regional One-Day cricket before, while opener Rashidi Boucher and off-spinning all-rounder Ashley Nurse have a solitary match.
Wicketkeeper Patrick Browne, who was dropped a year after averaging 33.50 in five One-Day Internationals for the West Indies, has been recalled after Carlo Morris was preferred in the last two tournaments.
Barbados will also play group matches against the Windward Islands at Everest on Friday and against Guyana at Blairmont on Sunday.
The semi-finals are set for October 26 and 27, with the final on October 29.
