Ronsford Beaton called up for Afghanistan T20Is

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Ronsford Beaton, the 24-year old fast bowler from Guyana, is the only uncapped member in the West Indies squad for the three T20Is against Afghanistan in St Kitts from June 2.

Beaton has picked up 31 wickets in 36 T20s, with a best of 4 for 9, and has represented Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL.

Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Lendl Simmons and Marlon Samuels, all of whom played the IPL, were retained from the squad that lost 2-1 to Pakistan. Jonathan Carter, Andre Fletcher and Veerasammy Permaul were left out. Jason Holder, the ODI captain, was rested.

“After the T20 series against Pakistan, we felt that it was important to keep the same group together so that the coaches can continue developing the young players,” the chairman of the selection panel Courtney Browne said. “This coupled with the vast T20 experience of some of our senior players can help us to build a very formidable unit.

“In developing a high performance unit there is never room for complacency and our expectation is to win against a team that is ranked lower than us in the ICC rankings.”

West Indies will be hosting a bilateral series against Afghanistan for the first time. The tour, which also includes three ODIs, will take place concurrently with the Champions Trophy, which begins on June 1 in England. West Indies, who have not won a bilateral ODI series since 2014 when they Bangladesh at home, failed to qualify for the eight-team event.

Afghanistan famously beat West Indies by six runs the last time they met in a T20I, at the 2016 World T20 in India.

Squad: Carlos Brathwaite (captain), Samuel Badree, Ronsford Beaton, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams.