BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE West Indies Men’s Team returned home to begin the second half of its home series starting next week, and several new names have been included in the squad for the first Test in Antigua and Barbuda.
In a media statement released yesterday (Jun. 8), Cricket West Indies (CWI) Men’s Selection Panel confirmed three uncapped players in a 12-man squad for the first Test match against Bangladesh at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
The uncapped players are wicket-keeper/batsman Devon Thomas, left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie and fast bowler Anderson Phillip.
Thomas has played 21 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and four T20 Internationals (T20Is), while Motie has so far played one T20I and was a reserve for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates last year.
Phillip was in the squad throughout the recent Apex Test Series victory against England, but has not made his debut to date. He had featured in three ODIs, including last week’s 3-0 Series win against the Netherlands and is in the ODI squad for the ongoing ODI Series in Pakistan.
The Test squad also includes left-handed allrounder Raymon Reifer who has one match on his record.
Experienced fast bowler Kemar Roach is to undergo a fitness assessment as he recovers from an injury sustained in the English County Championship with Surrey. If passed fit, he will be included as the 13th player in the Test squad, CWI said in its statement.
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Noticeably absent from the squad is allrounder Jason Holder, as he was approved for a period “of rest and recovery”.
Meanwhile, Tagenarine Chanderpaul and fast bowler Shermon Lewis have been selected as reserves.
The Selection Panel also named the CWI President’s XI to face the visitors in a three-day warm-up match at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua from tomorrow (Jun. 10) 10 to Sunday (Jun. 12). The team will be captained by allrounder Yannic Cariah.
Lead Selector, the Most Honorable Dr. Desmond Haynes said: “Devon Thomas has been knocking on the door for quite some time. He has done extremely well in our franchise cricket system and we view this as a good opportunity to give him a go. You would notice that Raymon Reifer is also in the squad. He is another person that has done impressively well in the four-day competition and against England (earlier this year). So again, we are giving opportunities to guys who are performing. We think Gudakesh Motie is one of those guys who is also bowling well, and we think it will be a good opportunity for him to be involved.”
On the CWI President’s XI, Haynes noted: “Yannic Cariah has captained Trinidad & Tobago at youth level and he was also the captain of the West Indies Emerging Players team which won the CG United Super50 Cup in 2019. We are looking at future leaders. We need to start identifying these persons as early as possible. While we will need some assistance from the territories as well, we want to make sure there are leaders we can identify and begin grooming for the future of West Indies cricket.”
