Cricket West Indies name provisional T20I squad for upcoming home summer

Led by Kieron Pollard, the squad includes big guns like Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, and Shimron Hetmyer.

Published - 18 May 2021, 20:38 IST | Updated - 18 May 2021, 20:38 IST

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The Cricket West Indies has announced an 18-member squad of the men’s team ahead of the three back-to-back five-match T20 International (T20I) series against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan.

Led by Kieron Pollard, the squad includes big guns like Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, and Shimron Hetmyer, while several youngsters have found a spot too. Sheldon Cottrell, Hetmyer, Russell, Oshane Thomas and Hayden Walsh Jr. have returned alongside the majority of the squad that recently beat Sri Lanka 2-1 in the three-match T20I series at home.

The provisional squad is set to undergo quarantine and train in St. Lucia ahead of the first T20I series against South Africa starting on June 26 at the Grenada National Cricket Stadium. The official squad will subsequently be selected and announced ahead of each series.

This is an opportunity to build for the T20 World Cup: Roger Harper

CWI’s Lead Selector, Roger Harper, explained the thinking behind naming this squad, “The Provisional T20I Squad was put together with all T20I Home Series Matches against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan in mind. This gives us the opportunity to continue to build towards the upcoming World Cup and to determine our best squad and our ideal eleven.”

Meanwhile, Phil Simmons, West Indies’ Head Coach, is confident going into the summer and looking forward to the World Cup.

“These upcoming T20Is are crucial in terms of our preparation for the ICC T20 World Cup. We have assembled a very solid squad — with experienced world-class match-winners and some exciting young talented players, ready to explode onto the global stage and do great things for West Indies cricket,” said Simmons.

“We are at that point where we have identified those who we will look to be the core of the squad to defend our World Cup title, so we want to make sure the upcoming matches create that environment — the way we train, the way we plan, the way we execute and the chemistry within the group. We won five years ago, so the next few weeks and months will be major steppingstones on the road towards defending our title and being World Champions for a third time,” he added.

West Indies Squad

Kieron Pollard (C), Nicholas Pooran (VC), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Kevin Sinclair, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr.