The West Indies squad for the upcoming 2022 Twenty20 World Cup was officially announced a few days ago. Accordingly, senior players such as Johnson Charles and Raymon Reifer were recalled to the squad based on their performances in the CPL so far.
Apart from that, veteran opening batsman Evin Lewis had been left out of the team for failing the fitness test in the last few series, but he was also called up to the squad. Also at 30 years old, Yannic Cariah is part of the squad and almost made his debut as an assistant to Akeal Hosein.
Accordingly, this year’s squad, which was a mixture of senior players and new players, had missed several big names. By the time
01. Andre Fletcher
A destructive opener, Andre Fletcher is believed by many to represent the West Indies squad for this year’s Twenty20 World Cup. Fletcher, who has played 54 international T20 matches for West Indies, has scored 950 runs. Although Fletcher was not a very successful player in the international T20 field, but he performed well in leagues around the world and managed to score 6061 runs in 250 matches. He is also an excellent fielder and has several gravity-defying boundaries to his credit.
So far in this year’s CPL tournament, he has scored 198 runs in 05 innings, at an average of 49.50. However, although many people expressed the opinion that he is a player who should be in the World Cup squad, he did not get that opportunity, and Dr. Desmond Haynes said, “Andre Fletcher was pretty close” to selection.
02. Sherfane Eviston Rutherford
Sherfane Rutherford is one of the purest hitters of the cricket ball. There is a very good demand in various leagues across the world and hence extensive experience in the T20 format. little this player’s day can be absolutely ruthless with the bowlers and tear apart any bowling attack.
He scored very well in the recently concluded 6ixty tournament, but could not score in the last few matches played in the CPL. Rutherford, who has scored 1472 runs in 95 T20 matches, was expected to secure a place in the World Cup this year, but unfortunately, that was not the case. However, Dr. Haynes did not say much about his non-selection.
03. Andre Russell
A Jamaican player Russell is a fierce all-rounder who represented the West Indies. He has scored 741 runs in 67 matches for West Indies and has also taken 39 wickets. The all-rounder has scored 6943 runs in 414 T20 matches with two centuries and 26 fifties, and he has also taken 372 wickets.
Russell is another at the top of the famous conveyor belt of Caribbean power hitters. Having gained a lot of experience playing in T20 leagues around the world, he is simply unstoppable if he stays on the wicket for a while. However, many fans believed that he would get a chance at this year’s T20 World Cup, but that was not the case.
Russell is quite unhappy with the current management of the CWI and has been quite vocal about operational issues. However, he has stated that the West Indies are his number one priority and that his goal is to win one or two World Cups.
“The maroon is all over. It’s not like I can start over again. I’m 34 and I want to win another World Cup – or two more – for West Indies because, at the end of the day, I’m here now, and I’m just taking it day by day. “
However, Haynes told Ian Bishop in an interview on the sidelines of Wednesday’s CPL game between Jamaica Tallawahs and St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots.
“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.”
04. Sunil Narine
A mystery spinner in the truest sense of the word, Sunil Narine is a silent hunter who doesn’t talk too much. He has taken 52 wickets in 51 T20 matches for the West Indies and He has also got 469 wickets in 431 T20 matches around the world, as well as 3313 runs as a batsman.
Narine is representing TKR in this CPL season and has taken 06 wickets in 6 matches so far. Narine, who has represented in two World Cups and is armed with a wealth of experience playing in leagues across the world, left the fans quite unhappy not to be a part of the T20 World Cup 2022.
Dr. Desmond Haynes stated that Narine is not interested in playing for the team.
“I did not get any notice from Narine regarding his availability to play. There were conversations that the captain was having with Narine, and from all reports, it seemed that he was not interested. Yes, again, the captain [Nicholas Pooran] told me he’s reached out to Narine, but I’m not too sure he wants to play,” Haynes remarked when queried about Narine.”
Like Russell, Narine has had many disputes with the boards, but he had earlier told ESPNcricinfo in an interview that everyone wants to represent their country, so he still wants to play for the West Indies.
“Things happen for a reason, and hopefully, in the future, I’ll be wearing maroon again, but until then, I’d still love to play for the Windies. We shall see when that opportunity comes, but there will never be a no for West Indies,”
05. Fabian Allen
Fabian Allen can be defined as dynamic with the bat, crafty with the ball, and electric on the field. He is a utility all-rounder in the shorter formats and came to the attention of the West Indies national selectors after his success in the 2014 ICC U-19 World Cup.
However, after his father’s death, he slowly re-entered the game, and this edition represented Jamaica Tallawahs in the CPL. There he took two superb catches and showed that he is still the best fielder in the Caribbean region. However, a place was not reserved for him in this year’s Twenty20 World Cup, and Dr. Desmond Haynes stated,
“Another one that was pretty close as well. Fabian, we have chat with him. Very good fielder. Has done very well in this format for us. I was a bit unfortunate that he was out of injury. We decided to go with a one left arm spinner. “
06. Hayden Walsh Jr.
Antiguan spinner Walsh has played 69 T20 matches where he has taken 63 wickets. He has also played 38 Twenty20 international matches for West Indies from 2019 till now, where he managed to take 31 wickets.
However, although many speculated that Walsh would be taken to support Akeal Hosein in the 2022 Twenty20 World Cup, he did not get that opportunity. Even Darren Sammy mentioned that he has been the number one spinner for about three years and it would be good if he was seen in the squad.
Desmond Haynes discussed with commentator Ian Bishop the reasons for his absence from the squad, saying that Walsh did not seem consistent.
“We have invested in Hayden, but I think when we look consistency. we still don’t feel that Hayden is consistent enough. we don’t write off any bowler because we think Hayden is somebody who have invested and we believe that he still stand chance if paying for west Indies. we hope again. he’s another one that will continue to do well in the CPL try to give himself selected.”
07. Gudakesh Motie
The Guyanese player, Motie managed to represent West Indies in a T20 international match in December 2021. He then earned his Test and ODI debut in the recently concluded Bangladesh series, where he bowled well-controlled in the four ODIs he played.
Dr. Desmond Haynes spoke about his not being selected for the World Cup and he said that Motty has played very well for West Indies in the last few matches, but only Akeal Hosein is good enough to go to Australia.
“We introduce motie into the test arena Early in the year also he played a few games for us. So at the time, we’ve got Akeal Hosein who is bowling very well for us. So we thought at the time it would be good for us to just stay with one left-arm spinner at the moment going into the world cup.”
08. Dominic Drakes
Barbadian Drakes is a very talented young left-arm medium-fast bowler. Haynes’ discussion with Ian Bishop clearly reflected the CWI’s great confidence in him. According to CWI Chief Selector Dr. Desmond Haynes, The 24-year-old Drakes missed the T20 World Cup due to a knee injury.
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“We very impressed with young Dominic Drake and we think that he’s a guy for the future. It’s a bit unfortunate that he got the knee injury, but we’re hoping there’s a possibility that he might be fit and, in case there’s something wrong with anyone of the players, he could be up for selection before the WC. “
Walsh and Allen are the only two I thing deserves to be on the team. Fletcher is to old.