Jayden Seales, Keacy Carty, Shermon Lewis earn maiden West Indies call-ups

New white-ball captain Nicholas Pooran will have a reformed white ball lineup at his disposal as the West Indies will be without the likes of Jason Holder, Shimron Hetmyer, and Evin Lewis for the two, upcoming One Day International series. Seales, the 20-year-old Trinidadian, 25-year-old batsman Keacy Carty, and Windward Islands seamer Shermon Lewis received their first call ups to the West Indies ODI team ahead of the Windies’ tours to Netherlands and Pakistan beginning on May 31st. 

Carty has created history by being the first-ever player from Saint Martin to be selected for the West Indies whilst Seales who has massively impressed in his seven-game Test career thus far, bagging 27 wickets, has been selected to continue his progression at the international level. For Lewis, it will not be his first time in a WI shirt either after making his debut back in 2018 against India at the Test level. 

Chairman of selectors, Desmond Haynes spoke on the inclusion of Carty for the first time, “We were impressed with Carty and the way he goes about his innings, we saw several glimpses of his ability the way he played against England earlier this year for the CWI President's XI.” Carty registered scores of 57 and 49 against England and has continued to shine being selected for the recently concluded West Indies white ball skill development camp in Antigua earlier this year. 

With the last regional, fifty-over cricket being played more than a year ago, the selectors have been forced to select prospects from predominantly red-ball cricket. Seamer Shermon Lewis has impressed the Windward Islands in the West Indies Four Day Championship with his nine wickets at an average of 14.66. Similar to Carty, he also competed against England for the WICB President’s XI back in February. 

His counterpart Jayden Seales who was thrown into Test cricket after just one first-class game will face a similar challenge with just three List A matches under his belt. However, many will remember Seales’ raging pace and stunning showing at the 2020 Under-19 World Cup taking 10 wickets at an impressive economy of 3.89. He has already shown his potential in the format and this will be another stage in his development. 

The blueprint is clear from the West Indies selectors with the addition of Seales and Lewis complimenting leader of the attack Alzarri Joesph who will return on the back of an impressive IPL showing. There is a noticeable intent to build a young, seam attack, especially with the emerging Anderson Phillip also included who will be the secondary seam option after being with the Windies team now for a couple of series. 

Even with the key absences of Holder who has been rested, Hetmyer who is unavailable due to the birth of his first child, and Evin Lewis who failed to pass fitness standards, the men in maroon will still be favourites to win in Amsterdam. However, the true challenge will come when they face the world-dominant Pakistan away from home, a place they were recently thumped 3-0 at the end of 2021 in the T20I format.