Haynes: King can play anchor role
Published:Saturday | September 17, 2022 | 12:08 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
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AHEAD of the October 16 start of the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia, chief selector for the West Indies team, Desmond Haynes, has picked Brandon King to play a key role as the regional team seeks to win the title for a third time. Following...
AHEAD of the October 16 start of the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup in Australia, chief selector for the West Indies team, Desmond Haynes, has picked Brandon King to play a key role as the regional team seeks to win the title for a third time.
Following the announcement of the 15-member squad, Haynes believes the likes of King and Raymon Reifer can be used as an anchor in the team, similar to how former Jamaica and West Indies middle order batter, Marlon Samuels, was used in both of the West Indies’ winning teams of 2012 and 2016.
“In the past World Cups, a fellow like Marlon Samuels would have played a role for us like that. In our first six batsmen, we would expect either Brandon King or one of the top-line batsmen to play that role in anchoring the innings, because over the years we’ve always have big hitters, but we need somebody to anchor the batting for us,” said Haynes.
The former West Indies opener who took over the reins as chief selector earlier this year following the sacking of Roger Harper, believes that his selection panel heading into the 2022 World Cup has put together the best players available to represent the West Indies.
“We’ve selected a team that is best for the West Indies. The selectors feel that if someone can do a job, we must give them the opportunity. When I first came into the job I said, my job would be to make sure that we give people opportunity. Over the years, you always had selectors that always wanted to go by the book ... Sometimes you just have to go with the persons you feel can do a job for you,” Haynes added.
With the 2022 Caribbean Premier League still being played, along with upcoming tours for the West Indies team, Haynes believes the players who missed out on selection, should use those tournaments to further develop their game and improve on their skill set.
“I would hope that the guys who missed out on this 15, would take into consideration that we still got the balance of the CPL to play and the regional 50-over tournament next month and I hope they would try to keep themselves fit and keep in good form,” he concluded.