The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Selection Panel on Thursday 9th September announced the West Indies squad for the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup, 2021.
The panel named 15 players and four travelling reserves for the marquee event which will be played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from October 17th to November 14th, 2021.
West Indies are the defending world champions and only two-time winners of the ICC T20 World Cup, winning in 2012 against Sri Lanka at the Premadasa in Colombo then four years later in 2016 against England in Kolkata. The West Indies now have the opportunity to create further history by becoming the first team to win a hat-trick of ICC T20 World Cup victories.
Experienced bowler Ravi Rampaul, a member of the 2012 winning World Cup squad, has been recalled for the first time since 2015. All-rounder Roston Chase is called up to the West Indies T20I squad for the first time.
Roger Harper, CWI’s Lead Selector said: “The squad is one with good depth and strength in all departments. There is tremendous T20 experience along with World Cup winning experience which should stand the team in good stead. This squad is made up of many world-beating players who, once knitted into a world-beating team, will be extremely difficult to beat. I expect the team to do very well and with the ‘rub of the green’ I think the team has a good chance of defending the title.”
Harper added: “Ravi Rampaul is a highly experienced bowler who performed well in the last CG Insurance Super50 Cup and the current Hero CPL to date. He will boost the team’s wicket-taking options in the power-play and the middle phase and will provide another option for the death overs. Roston Chase has shown that he is a very capable T20 player. He performed well in the CPL in 2020 and has been outstanding in the 2021 edition so far. He has shown the ability to knit the innings together while still scoring at a fast rate with a low dot-ball percentage. He will be an excellent foil for the explosive players in the team.”
The Squad: Kieron Pollard (captain), Nicholas Pooran (vice-captain), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr
Reserves: Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Sheldon Cottrell, Darren Bravo
West Indies have been drawn in Group 1 and will play five group games against England, South Africa, and Australia along with the winner of Round 1 Group A (Sri Lanka, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Namibia) and the runner-up from Round 1 Group B (Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, and Oman). West Indies’ first group game will be against England in Dubai on October 23rd.
West Indies Match Schedule: October 23rd: versus England in Dubai (6.00 p.m. UAE time, 10.00 a.m. Eastern Caribbean/9.00 a.m. Jamaica), October 26th: versus South Africa in Dubai (2.00 p.m. UAE time, 6.00 a.m. Eastern Caribbean/5.00 a.m. Jamaica), October 29th: versus B2 in Sharjah (2.00 p.m. UAE time, 8.00 a.m. Eastern Caribbean/7.00 a.m. Jamaica), November 4th: versus A1, in Abu Dhabi (6pm UAE time, 10.00 a.m. Eastern Caribbean/9.00 a.m. Jamaica), November 6th: versus Australia in Abu Dhabi (2.00 p.m. UAE time, 6.00 a.m. Eastern Caribbean/5.00 a.m. Jamaica).
CWI News