England touring party could be 25 players

- says Simmons

Phil Simmons
Phil Simmons

West Indies Head Coach, Phil Simmons is of the firm belief that there will be more than 15 players selected in the West Indies side for their three-Test tour of England set for July.

Simmons was speaking on I955 radio recently where he shared his views on the tour, which so far is set to begin on July 8 with the team expected to travel exactly one month prior.

West Indies selectors, led by chairman Roger Harper, has selected a provisional 30-man squad for the tour but that is expected to be trimmed down.

“The reduction depends on what happens in the next couple of meetings between the two boards,” Simmons stated.

“Once things are signed off then we will make a decision as to the number and the number of people to go on the tour,” he added.

Simmons has described the tour as a “unique but difficult situation for the selectors while rationalizing the context of the tour amid the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic.

“It is a unique situation because you have to bring your squad plus you have to bring your back up everything because once you come into that for lack of a better term bubble, because no one can come in, if you have an injury you have to have people in there so that is why I think it is a unique but difficult situation for the selectors,” he said.

Simmons affirmed, “Yes it will be more than 15, the exact number we don’t know yet, but as I said before if you play the first Test and someone gets injured you usually there is one flight from the Caribbean in a normal situation somebody could replace them but this situation when you get here you would have 14 days quarantine and everything so we can’t take that chance so it will definitely be more than 15.”

West Indies provisional squad: John Campbell (Jamaica), Jermaine Blackwood (Jamaica), Nkrumah Bonner (Jamaica), Paul Palmer Jr (Jamaica), Marquino Mindley (Jamaica), Daren Bravo (T&T), Joshua da Silva (T&T), Anderson Phillip (T&T), Shannon Gabriel (T&T), Sunil Ambris (Windwards), Preston McSween (Windwards), Alzarri Joseph (Leewards), Jahmar Hamilton (Leewards), Rahkeem Cornwall (Leewards), Shimron Hetmyer (Guyana), Veerasammy Permaul (Guyana), Keemo Paul (Guyana), Jason Holder (Barbados), Kraigg Brathwaite (Barbados), Shayne Mosely (Barbados), Kemar Roach (Barbados), Chemar Holder (Barbados), Keon Harding (Barbados), Shane Dowrich (Barbados), Shai Hope (Barbados), Kyle Mayers (Barbados), Roston Chase (Barbados), Shamarh Brooks (Barbados), Jomel Warrican (Barbados)