West Indies Announce Squad For Ireland ODIs; Jason Holder Rested For First 2 Games

West Indies National Cricket Team have rested senior all-rounder Jason Holder for the upcoming One-Day Internationals against Ireland. Holder will miss the first two games of the three-match series and is the only player to miss out from an otherwise retained squad that faced India. The Caribbeans produced a stellar fight against the Men in Blues before going down 1-2 in the series.

The introduction of Kieron Pollard as the skipper of the team has done wonders. West Indies produced a completely different performance against Afghanistan and India with their batters putting runs on the scoreboard. The bowlers also did an outstanding job against Virat Kohli & Co; however, there is still scope for improvement. They will eye to come out all guns blazing against Ireland and start the new year on a high.

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Must win series for West Indies: Roger Harper

Meanwhile, the selectors have decided to rest Jason Holder to manage his workload. The senior cricketer is a regular across formats and has played a lot of cricket in the last year. The selectors want to give him an adequate break to keep him fresh ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia in October. Holder, who leads West Indies in Test format, is currently the No. 1 all-rounder and will hope to take his country to greater heights in 2020.

“The decision was taken to rest Jason due to the heavy workload he has had over the last year,” said Roger Harper, West Indies’ selector on Thursday (January 2). “With an important year ahead for West Indies cricket, we saw this as the best opportunity to give him a break to recharge his batteries and refresh his mind so he could be ready to perform at his best as our Test captain throughout 2020, as the number one ranked all-rounder in Test cricket and an important member of the team in the white-ball formats,” he added. 

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Furthermore, Roger Harper said that the upcoming series against Ireland provides them with the perfect opportunity to build on the confidence they gained during the series against India. He also said that it is a must-win one for them going forward. The ODI series that begins on January 7 in Barbados will be followed by three T20Is.

West Indies squad Ireland:

Kieron Pollard (c), Sunil Ambris, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Keemo Paul, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Hayden Walsh jr.