Roach returns, Alzarri rested for West Indies’ home Tests against South Africa

Kemar Roach is set to return to West Indies’ Test side for their home series against South Africa. A knee injury picked up during the County Championship had forced Roach to miss West Indies’ recently concluded tour of England.

Fellow fast bowler Alzarri Joseph, meanwhile, has been rested, with wicketkeeper-batter Joshua Da Silva taking over the vice-captaincy. “We have decided to rest our vice-captain Alzarri Joseph for this series”, head coach Andre Coley said in a CWI press release. “Alzarri has had a considerable workload recently, and this break will allow him to recuperate and return to peak performance.”

Coles had laid out a long-term outlook with regards to Alzarri’s workload management in an interview with ESPNcricinfo, “As far as Alzarri is concerned, it always helps to have a period of time away from the game to work on your individual skills, because you could get drawn into moving from one tournament to the next and might actually lose some of your skills.

“So it’s building in the right amount of rest time where he does nothing, but then also have little periods where he is not in competition. That way he will be able to create more control around his bowling.”

Offspin-bowling allrounder Kevin Sinclair isn’t part of the squad, since he is yet to recover from the fractured left forearm he suffered during the England tour, after being hit by a ball from Mark Wood in Nottingham.

Uncapped offspinner Bryan Charles, pace-bowling allrounder Justin Greaves and left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican, who were not part of the England tour, have found places in the 15-member squad.

Both Jeremiah Louis – who withdrew ahead of the final Test in England due to a hamstring injury, and his replacement Akeem Jordan have also been left out.

Zachary McCaskie, Kirk McKenzie and Akeem Jordan are the others who have had to make way. McKenzie played all three Tests in England but only scored 33 runs in six innings. McCaskie was part of West Indies’ Australia and England tours but is yet to make his Test debut.

“The selection process for this squad was led by our Head Coach, Andre Coley,” Miles Bascombe, CWI’s director of cricket, said, “pending the implementation of our new selection process, which will be rolled out in the coming days and articulated publicly shortly.”

West Indies are coming off a 3-0 whitewash in England and are currently bottom of the World Test Championship table with one win in seven games. The two Tests against South Africa will be played in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, from August 7 to 11 and in Providence, Guyana, from August 15 to 19.

West Indies squad

Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Joshua Da Silva (vice-capt), Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, Bryan Charles, Justin Greaves, Jason Holder, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Shamar Joseph, Mikyle Louis, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Jomel Warrican.