Windies Squad to start 2020 in Barbados for ODI against Ireland

BY KAYLA KARIM

As the year came to a close, many cricket fans anticipated the recipients of the KnightHood in Queen’s New Year Honour List. This year, two West Indies legendary cricketers are being recognized.

Guyanese Chive Lloyd, 75, captained the West Indies in the World Cup wins in 1979 and 1995 where he was honoured for his “services to cricket development of sport”. Former batting star and teammate, Gordon Greenidge, 68, was the second recipient of the award. After the end of his playing career, Lloyd led the West Indies as their team manager in addition to holding prominent roles with the International Cricket Council (ICC) as a match referee and a member of their cricket committee. Most recently, he served as chairman of the West Indies selectors. The former player will now be known as Sir Clive, was credited for guiding the West Indies in the late 1970s and early 1980s into a dominant force in the world of cricket. Greenridege, made his debut in 1974 alongside captain Llyod and went on the become one of the game’s finest openers in a memorable partnership including Barbadian Desmond Haynes.

Meanwhile, the current West Indies squad is preparing for the upcoming three-day ODI against Ireland. The first of the two games will be played at Kensington Oval in Barbados and the remainder will be held at the National Cricket Stadium in Grenada.

The Cricket West Indies announced the 14-man squad earlier this week which will begin on January 7^th, 2020:

Kieron Pollard (c), Sunil Ambris, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh Jr.

However, fans will not be seeing all-rounder Jason Holder as he will be resting for the first two games of the series.

According to ICC Cricket, “The decision was taken to rest Jason due to the heavy workload he has had over the last year,” International Cricket Council (ICC) quoted West Indies’ selector Roger Harper as saying.

“With an important year ahead for West Indies cricket, we saw this as the best opportunity to give him a break to recharge his batteries and refresh his mind so he could be ready to perform at his best as our Test captain throughout 2020, as the number one ranked all-rounder in Test cricket and an important member of the team in the white-ball formats”, the statement read.

“This series against Ireland offers us the opportunity to build on the performances in India, build confidence as a team and for individual players. Just like the series against Afghanistan, the Ireland series is an important one for us, one we must win,” Harper added.

Jason Holder is the only player to miss out from the West Indies’ last ODI assignment, a 2-1 series defeat away to India.