Dominica: Cricket West Indies announces squad for Test Series against India

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – The squad selection for the West Indies Men’s Cricket team has been announced by The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Senior Men’s Selection Panel ahead of the India tour of West Indies, 2023.

The board has announced the team of 13 squad members and two reserved players for the first test match to kick off from 12 – 16 July at Windsor Park Stadium in Commonwealth of Dominica. 

As per the updates, the upcoming series between India and West Indies will be the first appearances for left-handed batter Kirk McKenzie and left-hander Alick Athanaze, who will make their debut for the West Indies team. In addition, The Cricket West Indies has also called up another allrounder named Rahkeem Cornwall along with Jomel Warrican, a left-arm spinner for the series. 

It has been noted that both Cornwall and Warrican had appeared for the West Indies cricket team earlier when Cornwall played his last Test match in 2021, November, and Wariican was part of the team during the Zimbabwe tour in February, respectively. 

Along with them, the reports updated that Gudakesh Motie, another left-arm spinner, will be unavailable for the selection due to his ongoing rehabilitation process from an injury. On his part, Chief Selector Dr Desmond Haynes has stated that Kirk McKenzie and Alick Athanaze have impressed them significantly with their exceptional batting skills and abilities during their recent ‘A’ Team tour of Bangladesh.  

The selection panel has praised both the new entries in West Indies Cricket and noted that they are young talented players scoring good runs for the team while expressing maturity and a deep understanding of the game. 

He added that the rehabilitation of Motie has made room for the entry of Warrican and Cornwall in the spin bowling department into the West Indies squad ahead of the big series against India. “They both have played at such level and are capable of doing the job”, he said.

Haynes further reported on the injury of Jayden Seales that he is not yet fully fit for the series despite being in the camp and making good progress in his rehab journey. “We don’t want to risk him at this stage”. On the other hand, he also emphasized that Kyle Mayers, a destructive left-handed batter, was also considered, but due to some niggles he will also not join the series at this time.

In his remarks, he also outlined that the upcoming Test Series will start the next cycle of the ICC Test Match Championship and said that the series would be a big challenge for them. Haynes expressed the will to perform better and move up in the points table of WTC.

The updates have claimed that the West Indies team will arrive in Dominica on Sunday after completing their pre-series camp at Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. They will start their training sessions on Monday to prepare for the first test match.

India and West Indies will face each other in the first Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Series powered by Yes Bank to start their WTC 2023-2025 Stint. The first match is scheduled to kick off at 10 am Wednesday (9 am Jamaica/7:30 pm India). Both teams will come face to face in the second test from 20-24 July at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad, which will also be marked as the historical 100th Test match between West Indies and Indies. 

The board has issued updates regarding the series and urged people to purchase tickets for their preferred stands from the Windies Tickets Service powered by Mastercard. The tickets can also be booked and downloaded from the official website tickets.windiescricket.com, and you are encouraged to carry printouts to present at the entry point.

The respective squad for West Indies Cricket Team is mentioned below:

FULL SQUAD

Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain)

Jermaine Blackwood (Vice Captain)

Alick Athanaze

Tagenarine Chanderpaul

Rahkeem Cornwall

Joshua Da Silva

Shannon Gabriel

Jason Holder

Alzarri Joseph

Kirk McKenzie

Raymon Reifer

Kemar Roach

Jomel Warrican

Traveling Reserves:

Tevin Imlach

Akeem Jordan

FULL MATCH SCHEDULE:

Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Series powered by Yes Bank

12-16 July: 1st Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Match, Windsor Park, Dominica

20-24 July: 2nd Cycle Pure Agarbathi Test Match, Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad

start at 10 am local time (9 am Jamaica/7:30 pm India)

CG United ODI Series powered by Yes Bank

27 July: 1st CG United ODI, Kensington Oval, Barbados

29 July: 2nd CG United ODI, Kensington Oval, Barbados

1 August: 3rd CG United ODI, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad

start time at 9:30 am (8:30 am Jamaica/7 pm India)

T20 Internationals

3 August: 1st T20I, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad

6 August: 2nd T20I, National Stadium, Guyana

8 August: 3rd T20I, National Stadium Guyana

12 August: 4th T20I, Broward County Stadium, Lauderhill, Florida

13 August: 5th T20I, Broward County Stadium, Lauderhill, Florida

Start time at 10:30 am (9:30 am Jamaica/8 pm India)