Cricket West Indies announced a 15 member strong squad for the tour of Sri Lanka where they will play two Tests as part of the World Test Championship cycle of 2021-23. The team has kept the nucleus which has been playing test cricket for the Caribbean outfit for quite some time and included a fresh entrant in form of an uncapped opening batter Jeremy Solozano.
Solozano, a Trinidadian cricketer who has played 40 First-Class games was picked up on the basis of his showing in the Best vs Best where he scored 74 in the second three-day game at Coolidge.
Speaking about the selection of the 26-year-old, West Indies’ Lead Selector Roger Harper said, “Jeremy played for the West Indies ‘A’ Team in 2019 (against India ‘A’) with success and in the Best v Best matches he displayed a sense of application, patience, and composure while looking very comfortable against both pace and spin which encouraged the panel to invest in him at this point.”
Harper went in to add about the squad, “The squad is well balanced, with good depth in all departments. The composition is very similar to the squad that brought us success in our last away tour to Bangladesh, with a few changes in personnel.
There are a number of players who are familiar with Sri Lankan conditions and most of the others have good experience in the Indian sub-continent, so they know what to expect and are gearing themselves for it.”
The Maroon brigade will play a four-day warm-up match in Colombo from November 14 to 17 before moving for the two Tests which will be played from November 21 to 25 and November 29 to December 3 respectively at the Galle International Stadium.
West Indies squad
Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain), Jermaine Blackwood (Vice-Captain), Nkrumah Bonner, Roston Chase, Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Kyle Mayers, Veerasammy Permaul, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Jeremy Solozano, Jomel Warrican