Daily Times

BARBADOS: West Indies have recalled Evin Lewis to their squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. Lewis last played international cricket at last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, and had since missed out on West Indies’ squads for fitness reasons. Over recent months, CWI chief selector Desmond Haynes and director of cricket Jimmy Adams had been critical of West Indies’ players — Lewis in particular – for failing to meet fitness standards, but Haynes now welcomed Lewis back to the team. “Someone like Evin Lewis, we all agree that he’s our best one-day cricketer, he’s done so well for us over the years,” Haynes told the commentator Ian Bishop in an interview on. “We had a meeting with him, and he’s committed to West Indies cricket; he told us that he’s committed to West Indies cricket, and I believe he should be given the opportunity.”

There is no room in the squad for the allrounder Andre Russell, who, like Lewis, last featured for West Indies during last year’s T20 World Cup. “We had a meeting with Andre Russell earlier in the year,” Haynes said. “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 just move on, and look for someone who’s in form, and doing well in the T20 format.” Fabian Allen, who recently announced his availability for selection after taking a break for family reasons, is also absent. Haynes said Allen was unfortunate to miss out with the squad having room for only one left-arm spinner in Akeal Hosein.

Sunil Narine, who last played for West Indies in 2019, doesn’t feature in the squad either.. A surprise inclusion in the squad is the legspin-bowling allrounder Yannic Cariah, who made his West Indies debut during last month’s ODI series against New Zealand, but is uncapped in T20Is, and his experience in the T20 format is limited to four games, the last of which came during the 2016 Caribbean Premier League. Cariah is not contracted to a CPL team this season. The selectors have picked Cariah ahead of Hayden Walsh, who had been the preferred wristspin option over recent months. Apart from Cariah, the squad includes one other uncapped T20I player in Raymon Reifer, the left-arm seam-bowling allrounder who has played three Tests and five ODIs. Among other seam-bowling allrounders, there was no room for Romario Shepherd while Dominic Drakes was unavailable due to a knee injury. Top-order batter Johnson Charles is also in. Charles would fill the role of reserve wicketkeeper in West Indies’ squad behind Pooran.

The 15-man squad to represent West Indies at the 2022 T20 World Cup: Nicholas Pooran (Captain), Rovman Powell (Vice captain), Yannic Cariah, Johnson Charles, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Kyle Mayers, Obed McCoy, Raymon Reifer, Odean Smith.