Kevin Wickham has earned his maiden Test call-up to the West Indies 15-member squad for the two-Test series in Bangladesh, the last assignment of the 2025-2027 ICC World Test Championship cycle for the Men in Maroon, with matches starting on October 28 and November 5 in Mirpur and Sylhet respectively.
The 23-year-old Wickham gets his first opportunity at the senior level following an impressive showing in the 2026 West Indies Championship where he scored three consecutive centuries with a best of 153, taking his first-class tally to six centuries from 25 matches at an average over 40.
He comes into the middle order as the squad prepares for a Bangladesh side that has traditionally won at home with spin, but has increasingly done so with pace.
Shai Hope, the white-ball captain, is being rested for the series after an extended run across all three formats. With the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier scheduled for February next year, CWI is managing his workload and wellness through the period in the lead up to the Qualifier.
Fast bowler Alzarri Joseph has been withdrawn from the series following a routine medical assessment and specialist consultation. With Joseph’s agreement, Cricket West Indies (CWI) has taken the decision to manage his workload, seeking to avert the risk of injury associated with the increased physical demands of red-ball cricket.
While he is not ruled out from shorter formats, the medical team has stated that the demands of two consecutive Test matches in Bangladesh, which require fast bowlers to sustain repeated high-intensity spells over extended periods, present a significantly greater workload and injury risk than the shorter white-ball formats.
Joseph will continue working with the CWI medical team and specialists in preparation for a full return to the longer format. All-rounder Keemo Paul has been called up as Joseph’s replacement for the series.
Opener John Campbell has demonstrated his return to fitness after the hamstring injury that kept him out of the Pakistan series in the Caribbean.
With the remainder of the squad unchanged from the group that beat Sri Lanka and drew with Pakistan during the summer, the team heads to Bangladesh equipped with three genuine pace options, two seam-bowling all-rounders, and two specialist spinners, along with the captain allowing for biased or balanced attacks.
Head Coach Daren Sammy said: “At the start of this World Test Championship cycle we set ourselves goals, and one of them was to finish in the top half of the rankings. Winning this series would move us closer to it. Playing Bangladesh in their own conditions will be challenging, and we’re ready for that.”
With a series win over the Tigers, the Men in Maroon could climb to six in the ICC Test rankings at the conclusion of the current cycle, after finishing the 2023-2025 cycle ranked 8th.
Squad members not involved in the T20I series in India have begun their preparations at the Super Kings Academy in Chennai under assistant coach Floyd Reifer, including Amir Jangoo, who joined the group after the first T20I in Lucknow.
The full squad arrives in Bangladesh on 18 October for a three-day warm-up match in Dhaka from 22 to 24 October. (CWI Press Release)
Source: NEW ROOMS SITE
