ICC World Cup 2019: CWI selector says Andre Russell has assured them of his fitness

On April 24, Cricket West Indies (CWI) announced their 15-man squad for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019 which saw many of their veterans gaining spots for the mega event. Chris Gayle, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, and Darren Bravo secured places in the squad, while Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard missed out in surprise selections made by the Windies board.

Chris Gayle had shown his intent for playing the World Cup with an amazing series against England recently, where he smashed two ODI centuries and two fifties in four matches in a 2-2 draw. Kemar Roach has been one of their best bowlers in the longest form of the game and has been part of the domestic limited overs tournaments. However, the biggest inclusion was that of Andre Russell, who is currently setting the IPL on fire with his batting exploits.

I spoke with Andre about four days ago, CWI selector Robert Haynes

Russell has been the main batting draw for his franchise Kolkata Knight Riders with 392 runs in 9 innings with a strike rate of 217.77 and 3 fifties to his name. More so, he has entertained the public with 41 sixes so far and has led KKR to win single-handedly in initial matches. However, there have been questions about his fitness, given that he pulled up short while bowling and has had issues with his knees from a long time.

“I spoke with Andre about four days ago and he assured me that he’ll be OK for the World Cup. He just has a couple of niggling injuries,” West Indies chief selector Robert Haynes was quoted as saying by Times of India (TOI). Interim coach Floyd Reifer too showed confidence in the big-hitting Jamaican and said that they would have to manage his injuries during the tournament. “Looking at the IPL, he’s been scoring a lot of runs, so we’re going to use him as a batting all-rounder. We’ll have to manage his injuries between games,” Reifer mentioned.

Why Narine was not picked in the squad, reveals Haynes

The selector also gave reasons for not including Sunil Narine in the squad, who has seen very little success after an altered action. “We had a lot of dialogue with Sunil and he assured us he would love to be playing for the West Indies, but he has a very sore finger. He’s getting treatment after every IPL game, and he cannot bowl 10 overs and is struggling to bowl four,” Haynes further mentioned.

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