CASTRIES, Saint Lucia, (CMC) – DESPITE having not played a Test match for the West Indies in over three years, veteran cricket commentator, Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira, believes that ODI and T20 captain, Shai Hope, is the best man to captain the Test team.
Perreira, who has been commentating for over five decades, said with Daren Sammy appointed as all-format head coach, it would make sense for Cricket West Indies (CWI) to follow the same route with the captaincy.

Former captain, Kraigg Brathwaite, stepped down from the role of Test captain last week, with CWI yet to name his replacement.
The 31-year-old Hope was recently appointed captain of the T20 side, taking over from Rovman Powell.
However, he last played a Test match for the West Indies in 2021 against Sri Lanka.

Speaking as part of a Sports Reporter Round Table recently, Perreira said Hope was the best candidate in the circumstances.
“Throughout the Caribbean, people have been trying to work out who may be the best person to appoint as the red-ball captain.
“My own feeling is, keep it simple. If you have an all-format coach in Daren Sammy, both white-ball and red-ball, simplify it. Ask Hope to also be your Test captain. I think it will work in unison with the coach, I think it will work nicely with [director of cricket] Miles Bascombe,” Perreira said.

“Hope is highly respected, he’s an ultimate pro. He goes about his life in a very orderly way, no roro stories about him, and I think that he will make an excellent captain, and he will be a long-term captain, because he’s young enough.”
However, Perreira said Hope, who has played 38 Test matches and scored 1726 runs with two centuries and five half centuries at an average of 25.01, would have to significantly improve those statistics.
“I will also say that he will have to improve his Test record.

“He started brilliantly. One can always remember him at Headingley, he and Brathwaite in that partnership that helped to beat England, but he will know that he will have to push up that Test average into the middle 30s,” Perreira maintained.