Roach, Bonner and King selected for Windies ODI tour of India next month

Written by Leighton Levy. Posted in Windies. | 26 January 2022 | 1426 Views
Tags: Cricket, Antigua, Brandon King, India, Kemar Roach, Nkrumah Bonner, Odi, West Indies

Experienced fast bowler Kemar Roach, Nkrumah Bonner and Brandon King have been included in a West Indies squad named for their white-ball tour of India next month.

The West Indies will play three ODIs on the sub-continent from February 6 to 20, where they will also play three T20 Internationals (T20Is). The ODIs will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on February 6, 9 and 11.

The matches form part of the ICC ODI Super League and the West Indies will have the opportunity to win points to be one of the top seven teams, excluding hosts India, to gain automatic qualification for the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.

Meanwhile, the T20Is will be played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on February 16, 18 and 20, with that squad expected to be announced on Friday.

Roach has played 92 ODIs in which he has taken 124 wickets while Bonner made his ODI debut in Bangladesh a year ago and has so far played three matches. King has so far played four matches in this format.

Lead Selector Desmond Haynes said the squad was selected to foster healthy competition for places in the West Indies squad.

“Kemar Roach is one of our leading fast bowlers and we believe we need bowlers upfront to get early wickets, and Kemar, with an economy rate of five, is certainly good enough to play. Over the last few years, Nkrumah Bonner’s cricket has come on leaps and bounds and we believe he should be given an opportunity to play in the 50-over format,” said the former West Indies opening batsman.

“We want to have competition for places. We want to reach a stage where we have a lot of players fighting for positions. We want to broaden the pool of players we have to choose from. The team we have selected is a very good side and we are looking at this tour as part of the preparations for the World Cup in India in 2023.”

ODI squad: Kieron Pollard (Captain), Fabian Allen, Nkrumah Bonner, Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran, Kemar Roach, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith and Hayden Walsh Jr.