In 2020, off-spinner Kevin Sinclair had the second-best economy rate – 4.35 – in the Caribbean Premier League and also took five wickets for Guyana Amazon Warriors.
Those performances which had a precursor in domestic Super50 tournaments, catapulted the spinner, who generally bowls in the powerplay, into the West Indies Twenty20 International team.
To date he has played six T20I matches, taking four wickets, and has an economy rate of 8.33.
However, it was until the Warriors’ sixth match this season, Sinclair was selected and bowled until the eighth over; his two overs went for 14 runs.
On Monday, Lead Coach, Rayon Griffith address the matter at a virtual press briefing and explained it is team combination and tactics that kept the spinner, who was in the West Indies provisional squad prior to the start of the CPL, on the bench.
“He played the last game with both off-spinners [Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik] but sometimes you are playing different opposition and you have different combinations you would like to play, so it was a bit tough for him not getting in the first couple of games but we will get his opportunity as this tournament goes along”, Griffith stated.
He added, “it all comes down to combinations; as a team, you are looking to put your best XI on the park, and our decision making in the first couple of games without Sinclair playing, we believe that was our best XI.”
West Indies is set to name their World T20 squad on September 9, and with both Lead Selector, Roger Harper, and Chief Executive Officer, Johnny Grave, indicating top performances in the CPL could count towards selection, Sinclair would have wanted more match-time.
Despite being part of the West Indies squad during the four home series, he last featured against South Africa and was not selected in the XI for the Australian or Pakistan series.
