Kemar Roach returns for Tests against South Africa; Alzarri Joseph rested

Kemar Roach will return to the West Indies’ Test side for the home series against South Africa after nursing his knee injury. Roach picked up the injury during the County Championship which kept him out of the Test series in England.

Meanwhile, the senior seamer Alzarri Joseph has been rested. In his absence, the vice-captaincy has moved to the wicketkeeper batter Joshua Da Silva. "We have decided to rest our vice-captain Alzarri Joseph for this series", head coach Andre Coley mentoned 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."

The offspin-bowling allrounder Kevin Sinclair also misses out. He fractured his forearm while batting against Mark Wood in the second Test in Nottingham and is yet to recover from the injury. The uncapped Trinidadian Bryan Charles comes in as the off-spinner in the squad. 

West Indies have brought in an additional left-arm spinner, naming Jomel Warrican in the squad alongside Gudakesh Motie. The pace-bowling allrounder Justin Greaves also marks a return. 

Zachary McCaskie, Kirk McKenzie, Akeem Jordan are the three players making way for them. McKenzie managed only 33 runs with the bat across the three Tests in England while McCaskie and Jordan were on the bench. Jeremiah Louis also misses out after withdrawing midway through the England series due to a hamstring injury.

"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 play South Africa in a two-match Test series staring in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, from August 7. The second Test will be played in Guyana from August 15. 

West Indies squad:

Kraigg Brathwaite ( c ), Joshua Da Silva (vc), 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

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