Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle Return as West Indies Announce Squads For Sri Lanka Series

West Indies, on Saturday, announced their T20I and ODI squads for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka. The hosts have recalled fast bowler Fidel Edwards in their T20I squad along with veteran batsman Chris Gayle. Edwards has not played for the West Indies since 2012. His last T20I appearance also came in 2012 during the tour of Sri Lanka.

Gayle, on the other hand wants to help steer West Indies to a successful defence of their World Twenty20 title in India in October and November. The Jamaican opening batsman played the last of his 58 T20Is against England on home turf in March 2019.

Off-spinner Kevin Sinclair also earned his maiden call up and left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein gets his first T20I call-up after being named in the squad.

“As we build towards the defence of the T20 World Cup, the opportunity is being taken to determine our best team and squad as we go forward,” Cricket West Indies (CWI) lead selector Roger Harper said in an official statement.

“Chris Gayle has performed very well in recent tournaments and the selection panel thinks that he can still add great value to our team. Fidel Edwards has been selected to give the bowling the potent firepower needed,” he added.

Gayle has been playing in the Pakistan Super League for Quetta Gladiators batting but will break off to return to his international duty in the three games against Sri Lanka taking place on March 3, 5 and 7.

Meanwhile, star all-rounder Andre Russell has not been named in the squad despite recovering from COVID-19. On the other hand, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Shimron Hetmyer, and Roston Chase weren’t considered after failing to meet the required fitness standard. West Indies also named the ODI squad for the Sri Lanka series and Test skipper Jason Holder has been included in both white-ball segments.

“Jason Holder has shown his all-round value in this format in recent times and after missing a few series he will add depth and experience to the squad. Akeal Hosein performed very well in Bangladesh [ODI Series] and had excellent stats in the CPL so this is an opportunity to see how he equips himself in this format,” said Harper.

“Kevin Sinclair grabbed our attention in the Super50 Cup back in 2019 and has been consistently economical in the last CPL and the current CG Insurance Super50. He will provide an off-spinning option for the team,” he added.

T20 squad:

Kieron Pollard (captain), Nicholas Pooran, Fabien Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Rovman Powell, Lendl Simmons, Kevin Sinclair.

ODI squad:

Kieron Pollard (captain), Shai Hope, Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Kyle Mayers, Jason Mohammed, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Kevin Sinclair.