ST JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – West Indies will be going into the second Test against Bangladesh tomorrow with the same squad from their opening Test with the chief selector praising the squad for its discipline and hard work in the first contest.
Following their seven-wicket victory at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium here on Sunday, the 13-member team, led by Kraigg Brathwaite, headed to St Lucia where they will play the second and final Test of the Padma Bridge Friendship Test Series, at the Daren Sammy Stadium in Gros Islet.
“We have a group of players who are very disciplined and are giving 100 per cent,” said Lead Selector of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Men’s Selection Panel, the Most Honorable Dr Desmond Haynes, in a statement yesterday.
“It was a very good victory in Antigua. The team played really well and must be feeling really confident heading into Saint Lucia for the second match…. I know we will try our utmost to win,” he added, noting that Bangladesh, who also bowled really well and were quite disciplined, could not be taken lightly.
Haynes gave credit to West Indies bowlers who “worked really hard in the first Test match”.
He singled out Player-of-the-Match Kemar Roach who ended with figures of 7-74 – including the match-winning 5-53 in the second innings – which took him to 249 wickets in his career, joint sixth alongside the legendary Michael Holding on the West Indies all-time list of wickets-takers.
The experienced fast bowler passed a fitness assessment and was added as the 13th player for the Test in Antigua just before it started, after making a full recovery from an injury sustained while playing for Surrey in the English County Championship.
“Kemar is a legend. He has done really well for West Indies,” Haynes said. “He made a great start to his career, then had some injuries, then he worked his way back and is our leading bowler. He’s among the best in the world.”
“I am very pleased with his performances, not just on the field, but the way he had been guiding the younger players and the way he has been interacting with the other members of the team,” the chief selector added.
The second Test will bowl off at 10 a.m. local time/9 a.m. Jamaica time.
FULL SQUAD: Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain), Jermaine Blackwood (Vice-Captain), Nkrumah Bonner, John Campbell, Joshua Da Silva, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Gudakesh Motie, Anderson Phillip, Raymon Reifer, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales and Devon Thomas.
