West Indies announce ODI squad for Ireland and England tour, drop Shimron Hetmyer; Ravi Rampaul roped in as bowling coach

West Indies Cricket have announced their ODI squad for Ireland and England tour. The notable exclusion from the ODI squad is Shimron Hetmyer who has not been in the best of forms for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Hetmyer was part of the squad that beat Bangladesh 3-0 in December 2024.

With RR eliminated from the IPL playoffs race, Hetmyer could have returned for the Ireland ODI series that begins on May 21 in Dublin. Soon after the Ireland series, the three-ODI series against England begins on May 28 at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Players recalled

West Indies have recalled 18-year-old Jewel Andrew who made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka last year but did not get to bat. Andrew has scored 275 runs from seven List A (One-Day) innings in domestic cricket. He has one century and scores at a strike rate of 89.28 in the format.

Shai Hope will be leading the side. Pacers Shamar Joseph and Matthew Forde have returned after they opted out of the Bangladesh series.

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West Indies ODI squad for Ireland and England

Shai Hope (c), Jewel Andrew, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Justin Greaves, Amir Jangoo, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Gudakesh Motie, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales, Romario Shepherd.

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Automatic World Cup 2027 Qualification at stake

Both series are crucial for West Indies as they would look to make a place in top eight of ICC ODI rankings to earn automatic qualfication for World Cup 2027 which will be played in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

"These matches form a critical component towards the 2027 World Cup and there are signs of the team building consistency following the series sweep against Bangladesh and the win over England late last year," West Indies head coach Daren Sammy said.

"We expect the conditions to be challenging but we are creating a culture and mindset which emphasise playing the brand of cricket that is taking us closer to some of our overall objectives."

Changes in coaching staff

There have been a couple of changes in their support staff as well. Former West Indies pacer Ravi Rampaul has replaced New Zealand's Jame Franklin as bowling coach. For the Ireland tour, they have roped in former Irish all-rounder Kevin O'Brien.