West Indies Bring Back 41-year-old Chris Gayle for T20I Series', Keiron Pollard to Lead

West Indies have named an 18 man provisional squad for three back-to-back five match T20I series against Australia, South Africa and Pakistan. That amounts to an many as 15 T20Is, the Men in Maroon will have a busy schedule ahead of them. Most of the players who feature in 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka have managed to retain their place in the squad. This include Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas and Hayden Walsh Jr.

Selectors have also roped in 41-year-old veteran Chris Gayle into the side, which is a clear indication that the Jamaican would be a part of the T20I World Cup squad too. Mumbai Indian’s all-rounder Keiron Pollard has been appointed the skipper while wicket-keeper Nicholas Pooran will be his deputy.

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West Indies are one of the contenders of ICC WT20 to be held later this year in October-November in India. The provisional squad will train at St Lucial before the first T20 match against South Africa in Grenada on June 26. The subsequent squad will be different for the games which will be picked from the provisional squad.

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“The Provisional T20I Squad was put together with all T20I Home Series Matches against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan in mind. This gives us the opportunity to continue to build towards the upcoming World Cup and to determine our best squad and our ideal eleven,” Roger Harper, lead selector Cricket West Indies said.

“These upcoming T20Is are crucial in terms of our preparation for the ICC T20 World Cup. We have assembled a very solid squad — with experienced world-class match-winners and some exciting young talented players, ready to explode onto the global stage and do great things for West Indies cricket,” coach Phil Simmons said.

“We are at that point where we have identified those who we will look to be the core of the squad to defend our World Cup title, so we want to make sure the upcoming matches create that environment — the way we train, the way we plan, the way we execute and the chemistry within the group. We won five years ago, so the next few weeks and months will be major steppingstones on the road towards defending our title and being World Champions for a third time.

Squad: Kieron Pollard (captain), Nicholas Pooran, Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Kevin Sinclair, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh jnr

Schedule:

West Indies vs South Africa

June 26: 1st T20I, Grenada National Cricket Stadium

June 27: 2nd T20I, Grenada National Cricket Stadium

June 29: 3rd T20I, Grenada National Cricket Stadium

July 1: 4th T20I, Grenada National Cricket Stadium

July 3: 5th T20I, Grenada National Cricket Stadium

West Indies vs Australia

July 9: 1st T20I, Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, St. Lucia

July 10: 2nd T20I, Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, St. Lucia

July 12: 3rd T20I, Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, St. Lucia

July 14: 4th T20I, Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, St. Lucia

July 16: 5th T20I, Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, St. Lucia

West Indies vs Pakistan

July 27: 1st T20I, Kensington Oval, Barbados

July 28: 2nd T20I, Kensington Oval, Barbados

July 31: 3rd T20I, Guyana National Stadium

August 1: 4th T20I, Guyana National Stadium

August 3: 5th T20I, Guyana National Stadium

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