Cricket West Indies (CWI) has confirmed that it will wait until the conclusion of its upcoming T20 International series against Afghanistan before announcing the West Indies squad for next month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The decision means the regional side will be among the last teams to formally name its final group for the tournament, which runs from February 7 to March 8 and will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
Three-match series sets the timeline
CWI Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe revealed that the World Cup squad will be unveiled after the third and final T20I, scheduled for January 22. The series opens on January 19, with the second match slated for January 21.
According to Bascombe, the squad announcement will follow swiftly.
“We have taken the decision not to name our squad until after the Afghanistan series,” he said.
He added that the official list would be confirmed “within 48 hours” of the final match.
Strategic approach over speed
While most participating nations have already announced their provisional squads, CWI has opted for patience, prioritizing performance assessment over early declarations.
Bascombe explained that the upcoming fixtures provide a valuable evaluation window as the team fine-tunes its composition ahead of the global tournament.
“We have the good fortune of having Afghanistan and South Africa before we head into the warm-up matches for the World Cup, so the idea is that we use Afghanistan to sort of finalise our squad,” he explained.
Avoiding late changes
The decision, Bascombe noted, was also driven by a desire to avoid unnecessary adjustments after a public announcement.
“We didn’t like the idea of naming a provisional squad and then having to announce changes to that squad.”
Although a provisional list was submitted to meet ICC requirements, Bascombe confirmed that the governing body was informed of CWI’s intention to wait before finalizing its selections.
“We submitted a provisional squad as we had to, but we did inform the ICC that following that series against Afghanistan, that is when we will formalise our squad.”
Focus sharpened ahead of global stage
With high-quality opposition looming and warm-up matches to follow, the Afghanistan series is now positioned as a decisive checkpoint, one that could shape the final balance of the West Indies’ World Cup campaign.
For CWI, the message is clear: selection certainty will be earned on the field, not rushed on paper.
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