West Indies have announced a strong 18-member provisional squad for the 15 T20Is they will be playing in their home season. As the Caribbean side starts their preparation for their title defence, they welcomed the return of batsman Shimron Hetmyer and hard-hitting all-rounder Andre Russell into the side.
The men in the maroon will be playing five games each against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan, starting June 26 after the two Tests.
While the senior pros Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo kept their place, the likes of Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr. returned to the side after not being part of the series against Sri Lanka.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) lead selector Roger Harper said, "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.”
West Indies coach Phil Simmons while talking about the importance of these games with an eye on the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, 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.
"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."
West Indies Provisional Squad for T20Is vs South Africa, Australia and Pakistan: Kieron Pollard(c), Nicholas Pooran(w/vc), Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, Andre Fletcher(wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Jason Holder, Dwayne Bravo, Fabian Allen, Fidel Edwards, Obed McCoy, Oshane Thomas, Sheldon Cottrell, Kevin Sinclair, Hayden Walsh Jr., Akeal Hosein.
