Chris Gayle has been named in the West Indies squad for the first two matches against England. He last played for his national team in July 2018 in a home series against Bangladesh.
The left hand batsman had made himself unavailable for national selection in order to play in the Afghanistan Premier League. He has scored 9727 runs in 284 ODI matches.
Courtney Browne, the Chairman of Selectors, has also shed light on Marlon Samuels’ unavailability.
“As we continue our Cricket World Cup preparations, the upcoming series against the top ranked ODI side is a great opportunity for us to gauge where we are as a team. This allows us to identify any areas that need addressing relating to selection and also helps the coaching staff to fine tune their game strategy,” Browne said in press release.
“We welcome the return of Chris Gayle who missed the last two series and Ashley Nurse from injury. We are pleased to introduce Nicholas Pooran to the ODI squad for the first time. He is clearly a young player with undoubted talent and we believe he can add value to our middle order. Shannon Gabriel remains very much in our World Cup plans but with a heavy workload expected in the Test series he will be considered for selection later in the ODI series,” Browne added.