Roston Chase earned a place in the West Indies Twenty20 International squad for the first time.
The reigning T20I World champions named the Barbadian spin bowling all-rounder in their 15-member squad for the ICC T20I World Cup from October 17 to November 14 this year in the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
There was, however, no place for compatriot Jason Holder, a former Windies Test and One-day International captain, and currently the No.1 Test all-rounder, but he is one of the four travelling reserves named to the squad.
Chase has been the top scorer in the Caribbean Premier League T20 taking place in St Kitts 281 runs in seven innings at an average of over 70 and a strike rate of over 150, and he has further proven his bowling credentials in the crucial overs for St Lucia Kings in the past two seasons of the tournament.
Though Chase has not featured in the West Indies plans in the format over the past two years, lead selector Roger Harper suggested that they have been keeping a close eye on him.
“He has shown that he is a very capable T20 player,” Harper said in a Cricket West Indies media release. “He performed well in the CPL in 2020 and has been outstanding in the 2021 edition so far.
“He has shown the ability to knit the innings together while still scoring at a fast rate with a low dot-ball percentage. He will be an excellent foil for the explosive players in the team.”
Holder has featured in the Windies T20 line-ups for the past two years, once he has not been rested to manage his workload across all three formats of the sport, but the selectors ignored his claims, and chose Ravi Rampaul instead.
Rampaul, 36, was a member of the 2012 World Cup winning squad and played the last of his 23 T20Is six years ago against Sri Lanka, and Harper believes he still has the ability to play a critical role in the side.
“Ravi Rampaul is a highly experienced bowler who performed well in the last Super50 Cup and the current CPL (Caribbean Premier League) to date,” Harper said.
“He will boost the team’s wicket-taking options in the Power Play and the middle phase and will provide another option for the ‘death’ overs.”
Other than Holder, the other reserves are all left-handers – batsman Darren Bravo, pacer Sheldon Cottrell and spinner Akeal Hosein.
West Indies have been drawn in Group 1 and will play against England, South Africa, and Australia, as well as two others from a pre-tournament qualifier.
Harper was confident that the squad selected could be competitive enough to take West Indies to an unprecedented third World T20 title.
“The squad is one with good depth and strength in all departments,” he said. “There is tremendous T20 experience along with World Cup winning experience, which should stand the team in good stead.
“This squad is made up of many world-beating players, who once knitted into a world-beating team, and will be extremely difficult to beat. I expect the team to do very well and with the ‘rub of the green’, I think the team has a good chance of defending the title.”
Squad:
Kieron Pollard (captain), Nicholas Pooran (vice-captain), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr.
(AR)
