Evin Lewis named into the West Indian squad along with two uncapped players for the T20 World Cup
West Indies announced their 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup that will be played in Australia from October 16 while Evin Lewis was added to the squad along with two uncapped players of Yannic Cariah and Raymon Reifer.
West Indies announced their 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup that will be played in Australia from October 16.
Evin Lewis was added to the squad along with two uncapped players of Yannic Cariah (right-arm leg-spinner allrounder) and Raymon Reifer (left-arm batting allrounder). There is, however, no place for seasoned T20 stars Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.
Lewis, 30, last played for the West Indies in the T20 World Cup last year but couldn’t get it done since due to fitness-related reasons.
Nicholas Pooran leads the squad while Rovman Powell has been named as vice-captain.
“We have selected a mixture of youth and experience to represent the West Indies,’
said Desmond Haynes, CWI’s Lead Selector.
“In the selection process, we have been cognizant of the ongoing CPL and we have been looking at the players who have been playing very well. I said at the beginning of my tenure that I would be interested in giving players the opportunity and I think I have been consistent in doing that. I believe it is a very good team we have selected, and it is a team that will compete, given that we have to qualify from Round 1 into the Super12s.
“There are players who did not make the team and I hope they will continue to work hard and perform to their best in the CPL and the upcoming CG United Super50 Cup; because you never know what can happen in case of injuries or any other unforeseen situations where we might need to call up players as replacements.”
As far as Russell is concerned, the all-rounder hasn’t precisely been performing great in the shortest format, having dealt with a top score of only 17 in the ongoing CPL. Haynes said that the selectors have chosen to ‘move on and take a gander at players who are in form.
“We had a meeting with Andre Russell earlier in the year. We’re still not convinced yet, he’s not performing as well as we would like to see him in the competition. I think in the situation with Andre Russell, we’ve just decided to move on, and look for someone who’s in form, and doing well in the T20 format.”
Haynes also briefly touched upon the non-inclusion of spinning all-rounder Sunil Narine in the squad:
“I did not get any notice from Narine regarding his availability to play. There were conversations that the captain [Nicholas Pooran] was having with Narine, and from all reports, it seemed that he was not interested,”
Haynes noted.
Squad: Nicholas Pooran (C), Rovman Powell (VC), Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Odean Smith, Johnson Charles, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Raymon Reifer, Obed McCoy, Alzarri Joseph, Akeal Hosein, Sheldon Cottrell, Yannic Cariah
