West Indies names squad for ICC T20 World Cup

Crick­et West In­dies has an­nounced the West In­dies squad for the ICC T20 World Cup fol­low­ing an as­sess­ment process fo­cused on prepa­ra­tion for con­di­tions in In­dia and Sri Lan­ka.

Head Coach Daren Sam­my said the se­lec­tion was based on plan­ning and an un­der­stand­ing of what is re­quired to com­pete at the tour­na­ment. Sam­my, who cap­tained the re­gion to ti­tles in 2012 and 2016, said the squad in­cludes a mix of ex­pe­ri­ence and new play­ers iden­ti­fied to meet tour­na­ment de­mands.

Gu­dakesh Motie re­turns to the squad af­ter a de­vel­op­ment pro­gramme in South Africa linked to the SA20 com­pe­ti­tion. John­son Charles was se­lect­ed as the back­up wick­et­keep­er, with Crick­et West In­dies not­ing that his ex­pe­ri­ence and abil­i­ty at the top of the or­der al­so pro­vide cov­er for open­ing po­si­tions. Quentin Samp­son was in­clud­ed as a mid­dle-or­der op­tion.

Fast bowler Alzarri Joseph re­mains in a re­turn-to-play process fol­low­ing in­jury. Crick­et West In­dies said he has not yet been cleared for high-in­ten­si­ty com­pe­ti­tion and will con­tin­ue work­ing with med­ical and per­for­mance staff.

Cap­tain Shai Hope said rep­re­sent­ing the re­gion at a World Cup re­mains a pri­or­i­ty for play­ers and ex­pressed con­fi­dence in the squad’s abil­i­ty to com­pete. He said the group has ex­pe­ri­ence play­ing in sim­i­lar con­di­tions and in­cludes bat­ting and bowl­ing op­tions suit­ed to dif­fer­ent match sit­u­a­tions.

The squad has as­sem­bled in South Africa for a three-match T20 In­ter­na­tion­al se­ries against South Africa from Jan­u­ary 27 to 31. The se­ries will serve as fi­nal prepa­ra­tion ahead of the open­ing match­es of the ICC T20 World Cup.

West In­dies squad

Shai Hope (Cap­tain)

John­son Charles

Ros­ton Chase

Matthew Forde

Shim­ron Het­my­er

Ja­son Hold­er

Akeal Ho­sein

Shamar Joseph

Bran­don King

Gu­dakesh Motie

Rov­man Pow­ell

Sher­fane Ruther­ford

Quentin Samp­son

Jay­den Seales

Ro­mario Shep­herd