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Up to seven players without a cap have been added to
the West Indies side for their arduous two-Test match against Australia next
month. Jason Holder, who has chosen to play T20 franchise cricket, will be
absent from the list of 15 players, which also includes wicketkeeper Tevin
Imlach, quick bowlers Akeem Jordan and Shamar Joseph, all-rounders Justin
Greaves, Kavem Hodge, and Kevin Sinclair, and hitter Zachary McCaskie.
Jayden Seales, a promising young seamer, is also
sidelined with a shoulder injury, while all-rounder Kyle Mayers has chosen to
play Twenty20 cricket instead of participating in the tour, similar to Holder.
Most of the players who will play in their first Test
match were part of the recent West Indies A tour to South Africa, which
consisted of three four-day games. With seven ODIs and six T20Is under his
belt, offspinning all-rounder Sinclair made an impression on that tour,
amassing 12 wickets at a cost of 25.91 in addition to a 44.00 batting return.
He had previously excelled on the previous A tour to Bangladesh. He averaged
16.61 with the ball in the West Indies four-day tournament last season, and
earlier this year he was called up to the Test squad to play India.
With just five first-class matches under his resume,
pace bowler Joseph was another to return from the A tour with respectable
figures, having claimed 12 wickets in two games. After taking 12 wickets in
three games against Bangladesh A, fellow fast Jordan, who was previously
included in the Test squad to travel South Africa earlier this year, claimed
nine wickets for the A side.
There will be extra pressure on the group of older
players led by skipper Kraigg Brathwaite, who will have Alzarri Joseph as his
vice captain, because nearly half of the side lacks Test experience. They are
among just five players that participated in the Test series in Australia
during the previous season, along with Kemar Roach, Joshua Da Silva, and
Tagenarine Chanderpaul.