By Neto Baptiste
Leeward Islands wicketkeeper batsman, Devon Thomas, says he is not surprised he was excluded from an understrength West Indies ODI squad currently on tour in Bangladesh.
Thomas scored a total 368 runs from 10 matches in the 2019/20 Super 50 tournament, third behind leading batsman and fellow Leeward Islands Hurricanes batsman Kieran Powell (524 runs) who was also excluded from the squad, and Darren Bravo (481 runs).
“No, I wasn’t surprised because after the [CPL] tournament they [West Indies] played a President’s XI game and I wasn’t selected and from that I realised that I would have to come for the next tournament and do well again. I just looked at it like that, so I wasn’t surprised,” he said.
Twelve players, including Test captain Jason Holder, declined to take part in the tour of Bangladesh due to health concerns.
Joining Holder in making themselves unavailable for the tour are vice-captain Roston Chase, T20 captain Kieron Pollard, Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Sheldon Cottrell, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, and Nicholas Pooran. Fabian Allen and Shane Dowrich will be unavailable because of personal reasons.
Thomas has come in for recent criticism over what appears to be indecision regarding his role as a wicketkeeper as he had seemingly lost interest in the position.
However, the CUB Bethesda Golden Eagles player has dispelled those reports.
“I still keep in T20, the white format and even in the Super 50 and stuff, but I didn’t wicket-keep last year [2019/20 season] because I had the little hamstring injury during the fitness test just before the CPL in 2019 and if you could recall, we [Leeward Islands] came to Antigua and I didn’t play because I pulled a hamstring. So that was the reason why, and after that the Super 50 came later down in the year and so that is the reason why I never really wicket-keep,” he said.
Thomas is set to appear for the Pune Devils when the Abu Dhabi T10 League 2021 rolls out on 28 January.