Trinidad and Tobago off-spinner Bryan Charles and St Maarten middle-order batsman Keacy Carty have received first-time call ups for the West Indies team for their two-match Test series against South Africa, which begins with the first Test at the Queen's Park Oval, St Clair, Trinidad from August 7. The second Test will be played from August 15 in Guyana.
The 15-man squad will be captained by Kraigg Brathwaite, with TT wicket-keeper/batsman Joshua Da Silva elevated to the role of vice-captain due to the omission of regular vice-captain Alzarri Joseph.
"We have decided to rest our vice-captain Alzarri Joseph for this series," an August 2 Cricket West Indies (CWI) release said.
"Alzarri has had a considerable workload recently, and this break will allow him to recuperate and return to peak performance."
In the July 10-28 3-0 Test series loss to England, Joseph grabbed ten wickets, but he was quite expensive throughout the series — going at an economy of over six runs per over.
The West Indies lost by a heavy innings and 114-run loss in the first Test versus England at Lord's Cricket Ground, before falling to a 241-run defeat in the second Test and a ten-wicket loss in the final Test in Edgbaston. Brathwaite and his charges will be aiming to rebound against a South African team which got a comprehensive 2-0 series win when the teams last met in South Africa in March 2023.
The Windies 15-man squad also sees recalls for left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican, middle-order batsman Justin Greaves and veteran pacer Kemar Roach, who was withdrawn from the touring squad to England due to injury.
Carty, Charles, Greaves and Roach are currently part of the West Indies Championship XI team which is playing South Africa in a four-day warm-up match at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba. Greaves is the skipper of the Windies Championship XI team.
The 27-year-old Carty has played 22 matches for the West Indies in the ODI format, but remains uncapped at Test level. Carty has played 48 First-Class matches, averaging 28.09 in the format with three hundreds and 18 fifties. Carty finished the 2024 regional First-Class season as the fifth-leading run scorer with 496 runs, notching a career-best score of 127 in the process.
Warrican and the 29-year-old Charles grabbed 35 and 31 wickets respectively in the First-Class season, and will provide spin options alongside left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie. Warrican finished the season second among the leading wicket-takers, with Charles fifth on the wicket-taking charts.
CWI director of Cricket Miles Bascombe is confident in the 15-man squad chosen.
"The selection process for this squad was led by our head coach, Andre Coley, pending the implementation of our new selection process, which will be rolled out in the coming days and articulated publicly shortly," Bascombe said.
"This squad reflects a thorough evaluation of players' recent performances and suitability for the conditions we anticipate. We are confident that this team is well-balanced and capable of competing at t
