Roach, Bonner, King recalled to WI squad for India tour

EXPERIENCED pacer Kemar Roach, batsmen Nkrumah Bonner and Brandon King have been recalled to the West Indies One-Day International team for the upcoming three-match series against India.

The West Indies will visit the sub-continent from February 6 to 20, where they will also play three T20 Internationals (T20Is).

On Wednesday, Cricket West Indies’ (CWI) selection panel announced the final squad for the ODI tour.

Kieron Pollard captains the team once more and welcomes back to the squad Roach, who has so far played 92 ODIs with 124 wickets.

Middle-order batsman Bonner made his ODI debut in Bangladesh a year ago and has so far played three matches while King has played four matches in this format.

Lead selector Desmond Haynes said, “Roach is one of our leading fast bowlers and we believe we need bowlers upfront to get early wicket, and Kemar, with an economy rate of five, is certainly good enough to play.

“Over the last few years, Nkrumah Bonner’s cricket has come on leaps and bounds and we believe he should be given an opportunity to play in the 50-over format.”

A CWI statement said that the ODIs will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on February 6, 9 and 11. These matches form part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI Super League.

Here, “the West Indies will have the opportunity to win points to be one of the top seven teams, excluding hosts India, to gain automatic qualification for the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.”

The T20Is will be played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on February 16, 18 and 20, with the squad expected to be announced on Friday.

Haynes added, “We want to have competition for places. We want to reach a stage where we have a lot of players fighting for positions. We want to broaden the pool of players we have to choose from. The team we have selected is a very good side and we are looking at this tour as part of the preparations for the World Cup in India in 2023.”

WI ODI SQUAD FOR INDIA TOUR - Kieron Pollard (captain), Fabian Allen, Nkrumah Bonner, Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran, Kemar Roach, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Hayden Walsh Jr.