Shepherd, Motie, Hetmyer, Rutherford also named
CMC – JOINT-HOSTS and two-time world champions, West Indies rolled the dice and named uncapped pacer Shamar Joseph in their provisional 15-member squad for the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup to be staged next month in the Caribbean and the United States.
The 24-year-old Guyanese fast bowler, who has played only three official Twenty20 matches in his career and has not taken a wicket, is yet to make his international debut in the format, but West Indies lead selector Desmond Haynes and white-ball head coach Daren Sammy felt he was worth the gamble.
“You really can’t question Shamar Joseph’s skills,” Haynes told reporters during a news conference on Friday in the Barbados capital of Bridgetown to announce the squad. “You saw him in Australia. We were looking at someone up front bowling the first Power Play, and he ticks the boxes.”
Joseph rose to prominence on his Test debut in January when he took seven wickets in an innings and bowled West Indies to their first Test win in Australia for 27 years against the hosts and world champions.
Sammy was in Australia at the time preparing the white-ball outfit for the subsequent One-day and Twenty20 Internationals matches on the trip, and he spoke glowingly about the rookie fast bowler and hinted that he could be a dark horse to make the Caribbean side for the global showpiece.
Joseph is one of several West Indies players taking part in the ongoing Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament, being signed by Lucknow Super Giants as a replacement player, but he had a difficult debut and conceded 47 against Kolkata Knight Riders in his only match.
But Sammy said the pace and control of Joseph gave him the edge over other contenders such as Matthew Forde and Oshane Thomas.
“Shamar has the pace, he has skills with the new ball; not saying Matthew Forde doesn’t, but when you look at the role, it makes it easier for us to now pick the personnel to fit that role,” Sammy said about the young fast bowler.
At the same time, Guyanese left-handed batsman Shimron Hetmyer earned a recall, after being dropped during the series against England last Christmas, overlooked in January for the Tour of Australia, and modest runs in the IPL.
Haynes said it was a close call between the 27-year-old former West Indies Under-19 World Cup winning captain and Barbadian ambidextrous all-rounder Kyle Mayers, who had been a regular feature in the line-up over the past couple of years.
“It was a very close decision regarding selection between Kyle and Hetty, but we wanted the extra batsman to be the one batting down the order,” the lead selector said. “We are hoping that Hetty would play that role as a finisher.”
The rest of the squad – to be led by Rovman Powell with fast bowler Alzarri Joseph his deputy – was pretty much straightforward and includes most of the players that played in the series against England on home soil and in Australia.
Off-spin bowling all-rounder Roston Chase, who is leading West Indies “A” on the Tour of Nepal, hangs onto a place next to left-arm spinners, Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie and offers variety to the attack, which meant there was no room from the returning left-arm spin bowling all-rounder, Fabian Allen.
Haynes said Chase was the “most economical bowler” in the format available, and his ability with the bat meant that he could play a “similar role” to that of the now retired Marlon Samuels when West Indies won their T20 World Cups.
Sammy added that it was always going to be a difficult side to pick because they were players such as the skillful Allen and energetic leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr – both in Nepal with West Indies “A” – that could be left on the side-lines.
He also disclosed that while a knee injury kept Brandon King out of the Tour of Nepal there was the opportunity for the Jamaican to play in the T20 home series against South Africa before the World Cup – and if found to be unfit, a replacement could be named.
All World Cup provisional squads may be changed up to May 25, after which any alterations will require approval from the technical committee of the tournament.
West Indies will play in Group “C” of the tournament with Afghanistan and New Zealand, and two ICC Associate teams – Papua New Guinea and Uganda.
Their first two matches in the tournament will be at the Guyana National Stadium, where they face the Papuans on June 2 and take on the Ugandans six days later.
The Caribbean side will complete the group stage against New Zealand on June 12 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Afghanistan five days later at the venue named after their coach in his homeland of St Lucia.
West Indies are a two-time champion of the tournament, having won in 2012 in Sri Lanka and 2016 in India under the leadership of Sammy and guidance of coaches Ottis Gibson and Phil Simmons.
Squad:
Rovman Powell (captain), Alzarri Joseph (vice-captain), Johnson Charles, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Brandon King, Obed McCoy, Gudakesh Motie, Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Oshane Thomas.
