Kemar Roach, Kavem Hodge recalled to West Indies squad for NZ Tests

Kemar Roach has been recalled to the West Indies Test squad for their tour of New Zealand in December this year. Roach was part of a 15-member squad for the three matches, but Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph are still missing, due to injuries.

Roach last played a Test in January, in Multan during their tour of Pakistan, and his 85-Test record will balance out a relatively inexperienced pace attack, which also includes 29-year-old Ojay Shields, who has received his maiden call-up.

Allrounder Kavem Hodge, who also made his last Test appearance during the Multan match, has been recalled to the side. However, Khary Pierre finds himself and his left-arm orthodox spin bowling out of favour – he has been dropped from the squad.

Cricket West Indies’ Director of Cricket, Miles Bascombe, said, “New Zealand has traditionally been one of the toughest places for any touring side… The recent high-performance camp here in Antigua was designed to replicate, as closely as possible, the conditions we expect to face, particularly the pace-friendly surfaces.”

Shields and Roach, among other players named in the squad, have completed a two-week high-performance camp in the region. They will also be joining the rest of the squad – already in New Zealand for the ongoing ODI series – on November 20, to be part of a two-day warm-up match against a New Zealand XI in Christchurch.

The series will be a part of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle. West Indies sit at the bottom of the table among the teams who have played at least one Test in the cycle – they have lost all five of the matches they have appeared in so far. New Zealand, on the other hand, are yet to play a match in the cycle, and this series against West Indies will get their WTC campaign belatedly off the mark.

Roston Chase (Captain), Jomel Warrican (Vice- Captain), Alick Athanaze, John Campbell, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Justin Greaves, Kavem Hodge, Shai Hope, Tevin Imlach, Brandon King, Johann Layne, Anderson Phillip, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Ojay Shields

ESPNCricinfo