Reports: Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul, Darren Bravo opt out of West Indies’ tour of England

Cricket West Indies (CWI), reportedly, has picked the national squad for the Tests against England. The tour starts on July 8 with the opening Test at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. The second and third games are scheduled to be played at the Old Trafford in Manchester. As far as the squad is concerned, it’s been learned that Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo and Keemo Paul have opted out.

The Caribbean team will arrive on English soil on June 9 and will be based at the Old Trafford as a part of the quarantine protocol. All the three Tests will be played in front of empty stands at bio-secure venues. The original series was set to take place between June 4 and 29 at the Kennington Oval, the Edgbaston and Lord’s, but it had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, June 2, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed about the series in July amidst all sorts of chaos globally. As per Andrew Mason, who’s a cricket commentator, the selectors didn’t have it easy to pick the squads. According to a report in Sports Max, middle-order batsman Jermaine Blackwood and right-arm speedster Shannon Gabriel have earned a recall to the team.

Jason Holder to lead the West Indies

As per reports, Alzarri Joseph, Chemar Holder, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Shane Dowrich, Roston Chase, Shamarh Brooks, Rahkeem Cornwall, Nkrumah Bonner, Raymon Riefer, Kemar Roach, John Campbell and skipper and pacer Jason Holder have been picked. In July, the Edgbaston in Birmingham has been picked as a contingency venue and will be used to stage additional training.

Going into the series, Jonathan Trott, the former Three Lions’ batsman, said that the cricketers would be “refreshed and chomping at the bit to get going”. “When you think of playing for England, you always think of packed houses,” Trott told to BBC Radio 5 Live. “It’s going to be a little bit different behind closed doors but not dissimilar to playing away at some grounds overseas.”

After agreeing on the series versus the Caribbeans, the ECB stated that decisions on the fixtures against Pakistan, Australia and Ireland will be taken later on. The upcoming series in July is expected to mark the return of international cricket after every tournament came to the halt in March.