Windies selector Haynes: Fast bowlers' workload must be monitored

Jayden Seales (right) of West Indies celebrates with his teammate Alzarri Joseph after dismissing Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh during the first day of the 2nd Test at Darren Sammy Cricket Ground, Gros Islet, St Lucia, on June 24. (CWI Media) -
Jayden Seales (right) of West Indies celebrates with his teammate Alzarri Joseph after dismissing Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh during the first day of the 2nd Test at Darren Sammy Cricket Ground, Gros Islet, St Lucia, on June 24. (CWI Media) -

WEST Indies men’s lead selector Desmond Haynes said the workload of fast bowlers Jayden Seales and Alzarri Joseph must be managed, as the players are becoming consistent members of the West Indies team in different formats.

Joseph and Seales both played in the recent two-match Test series against Bangladesh.

Joseph has been included in the squads for the T20 and One Day International (ODI) series against Bangladesh and Seales is in the ODI squad. The T20 series bowls off on Saturday.

They have also been busy playing franchise T20 cricket.

With the hectic schedule in the cricketing world, Cricket West Indies have been making an effort to rest players.

Jason Holder, the only West Indian playing all three formats consistently over the last few years, has been used sparingly in 2022 in an effort to manage his workload.

Holder did not feature in the Test series against Bangladesh and will also not play in the T20 and ODI matches.

Asked specifically about Joseph’s workload during a Zoom session on Wednesday, Haynes said, “It is not only Alzarri, we are very concerned about Seales as well, because what we are saying, as I mentioned earlier, I felt really bad to know that those guys had to be in Pakistan playing in those conditions and then coming home and in two days they (were) involved in a Test match (against Bangladesh).”

Haynes is worried some players will be overworked.

“We can’t have players playing in these (hot) conditions and playing in all three formats. We have to look very seriously at how we are going about resting Alzarri and also Jayden Seales…We got to be very careful, though, that we don’t burn them out (in) all three formats of the game, and that is my biggest concern at the moment.”

Haynes congratulated the West Indies players for battling through the conditions on their three-match ODI tour of Pakistan in June.

“I had the opportunity to tour Pakistan with the players and it was 46 degrees (Celsius) in the shade,” Haynes said.

“Our One Day games were starting at 4 o’clock and at 10’clock, 11 o’clock in the night the temperature was going down to about 39 or 40, and I saw those young guys going out there and playing and giving their best. I know for sure I have not played cricket in that type of weather, and I just want to say to them that I really appreciate the effort, and the guys really want to play cricket for West Indies and I want to thank them for that.”

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