Brandon King, the ace at the top of the pack

An elegant and flowing right-hander when in full flight, Jamaican top-order batsman Brandon King officially announced himself to cricket spectators around the region when he had a breakout year in the 2019 Caribbean Premier League (CPL), scoring 496 runs in 12 innings at an average of 55.11.

King scored a CPL record 132 not out for the Guyana Amazon Warriors against eventual champions Barbados Tridents in the first 2019 CPL qualifier, and he was rewarded later that year with debuts in both the One-day international (ODI) and T20 formats for the West Indies.

Since debuting against India in either format in November 2019, King has shown flashes of his brilliance, but he's still striving for consistency to be a dominant figure on the world stage. King has played 50 T20s for the Windies and averages 29.75.

In the 2022 CPL, King showed his prowess once again when he scored a tournament-high 422 runs in 13 innings to lead the Jamaica Tallawahs to their third CPL title – scoring a brilliant 83 not out off just 50 balls in the final against Barbados Royals.

Selected for the Windies team for the 2022 International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup, King would have been hoping to translate his CPL form to the international stage.

The West Indies didn't make it into the main stage of the 2022 T20 World Cup, though, and defeats to Scotland and Ireland sent them crashing out at the qualifying stage.

King made 17 in the first qualifying match against Scotland, and he made an unbeaten 62 off 48 balls against Ireland in the final match of the campaign – one of his ten fifties in the format for the Windies.

Last year, as the West Indies made a revival in the T20 format, winning consecutive series against South Africa (2-1), India (3-2) and England (3-2), the 29-year-old King cemented his spot at the top of the Windies order as he scored 348 runs in 13 innings at an average of 31.64.

King notched his two highest T20 scores for West Indies last year. In the series decider against India in Florida in August, King scored an unbeaten 85 off 55 balls and shared a 107-run partnership for the second wicket with Nicholas Pooran as West Indies got an emphatic eight-wicket win.

In the subsequent series against England in December, King scored a match-winning 82 not out off 52 balls in Grenada in the second T20.

With skipper Rovman Powell absent on Indian Premier League (IPL) duty, King led the Windies to a 3-0 series sweep against the "Proteas" ahead of the June 1-29 T20 World Cup.

With three fifties in his last ten T20 matches for the West Indies, King will be expected to lead the charge atop the order as coach Daren Sammy's squad makes a push for their third T20 World Cup title.