Jayden Seales, Shermon Lewis and Keacy Carty are the new faces in the West Indies squad for the ODI tours of the Netherlands and Pakistan. Carty, a specialist batter, is also the first player from St. Maarten to be selected in the senior men’s team.
Jason Holder, currently playing for Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League, has been rested to manage his workload, according to Cricket West Indies, while Shimron Hetmyer also won’t be part of the tours as he’ll be at home for the birth of his first child. Meanwhile, Evin Lewis, who is also with the Lucknow team, hasn’t been considered for the national side as he failed to meet the fitness criteria.
West Indies squad: Nicholas Pooran (Captain), Shai Hope (Vice Captain), Nkrumah Bonner, Shamarh Brooks, Keacy Carty, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Shermon Lewis, Kyle Mayers, Anderson Phillip, Rovman Powell, Jayden Seales, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh Jr.
Speaking about the inclusion of Carty, West Indies’ chief selector Desmond Haynes said: “We were impressed with Carty and the way he goes about his innings, we saw several glimpses of his ability the way he played against England earlier this year for the CWI President’s XI. We hope that giving him this opportunity he will recognize the importance of representing West Indies. We think he is a young batsman with great promise, and this is the kind of tour he can show he fits in.
“We also have a very good group of young fast bowlers who have demonstrated their ability and we want to use these two tours to give them opportunities in the 50-over format. We have a week in The Netherlands and another week in Pakistan and this should provide them with quality opposition to bowl against as we build towards the Cricket World Cup in 2023. Phillip has been around for some time, and we know what he can offer, Seales has been very good in Test cricket and Lewis is making a return to the West Indies set-up following some good performances,” Haynes added.
West Indies’ tour of the Netherlands, which will be the first ODI series between the two teams, will be played at the VRA Cricket Ground in Amstelveen with the matches scheduled on May 31, June 2 and 4. The three-match ODI series against Pakistan is scheduled to be played in Rawalpindi on June 8, 10 and 12. Both series are part of the ICC ODI Super League with the points earned here providing opportunity to the teams to seal one of the top seven spots for automatic qualification for the ODI World Cup to be held in India in 2023.
