In a virtual press conference last Thursday, Haynes told the media that he intends to rope in some of the current white-ball players to play the long version for a few of the A’ team’s tours.
West Indies senior men’s selection committee chairman Desmond Haynes further revealed that they are in talks with Brandon King, Shai Hope and Akeal Hosein regarding their red ball aspirations.
“We’ve got a lot players who we would like to include in the set-up and we would like to see them playing some four-day cricket for the franchises. I think the ‘A’ team can have a mixture of who we want to be involved in the longer version of the game and it would be good to give them some exposure as well, but it is quite difficult sometimes with players’ schedules.”
“But yes, we would really like to see the likes of Brandon, Shai Hope, and I had a chat with Akeal Hosein as well, and I was saying to him what I would like to see these guys playing so that we can have a core of players that we can look at and say these guys could compete with any team in the world.”
The 29-year-old Hope was named the West Indies ODI captain a few days ago and has played 104 ODIs, 19 T20Is and 38 Tests. Hope, who made his ODI debut six years ago and since 2017, has finished as the highest run-scorer in ODIs for the West Indies every year.
Last year (2022) was no different and the 29-year-old was once again one of the few stars to shine for West Indies in a difficult year where they won just 5 of the 21 ODIs they played.
Hope did not get off the greatest of starts in 2022 but in typical fashion started to grind out runs in the latter half. He finished the year with 709 runs, which include three hundred and two fifties, at an average of 35.45.
Also, Hosein has played 29 ODIs and 32 T20Is for Windies since making his debut in 2021. The left-arm spinner has played 24 first-class matches and has taken 66 wickets. He also has a first-class century and two fifties.
Alzzari Joseph and spinner Akeal Hosein were the only two successful bowlers in the ODI format for the regional team Last year.
From that, Hosein managed to take 30 wickets in 20 matches. 04 wickets for 39 runs against Netherlands is his best bowling last year. 30.70 average his 2022 economy 5.15 .
In addition, the 28-year-old King has played 20 ODIs and 32 T20Is for the Windies and has built some stability in the regional team.
Explaining this further, the chairman says that at the beginning of every year, they have made a recommendation to ask these players if they want to play cricket for the West Indies team.
“We’ve made a recommendation that at the beginning of every year, we ask these guys for their availability to play cricket for West Indies, so that when they look at the schedule, they know the West Indies schedule so they can then say, yes, I would give up a T20 in Bangladesh and play ‘A’ team cricket or four-day cricket at home or something like that.”
“But it is something that we need to work hand-in-hand with the players, because we have no intentions to stop people from making money. So, if guys are unavailable because they are involved in other T20 formats around the world where they might have made commitments before, it is very difficult for me to ask them to renege on their commitment.”