WI vs AUS | ‘Representing the West Indies gives me a lot of joy and pride’ - Shai Hope ahead of his Test return

‌Shai Hope will play his first Test match for West Indies in more than three and a half years when he takes the field in the first match against Australia at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. The wicketkeeper-batter last played against Sri Lanka in December 2021 before being dropped from the side owing to poor form.

The West Indies white-ball skipper is happy to be back in the side in the longer format and vows to give his best to the team. 

"Representing the West Indies, they always give me a lot of joy and pride," Hope was quoted as saying to ESPNcricinfo. "I think that was the main focus, just being able to represent the region and bring my impact on the game and obviously the transfer of that inspiration back into the next generation.

"I'm happy to be back. It's not something I would say I was looking forward to in terms of, 'I have to play Test cricket again'. But if the opportunity came, I would always be willing to take it.

"I believe if I'm doing something, I'm committed to it," he added. "So if I decided to come back and play Test cricket, my main focus would be to give it my all. If success is there or not, the decision to leave me in or include me, that's up to the decision-makers."

With Hope at the helm of the West Indies team in both white-ball formats and with two ICC events coming up in the next two years, he will have his task cut out in terms of workload management. West Indies are currently struggling at ninth in the ODI rankings with the side requiring to improve their showing drastically to make the cut for automatic qualification to the 2027 ODI World Cup.

"The reality is that the best or the most elite players don't play throughout the year in all three formats," he said. "But I pride myself on being as fit and being as ready as possible for whatever is thrown at me. If I'm playing all three formats, let's say for the next two, three, five, ten years, however long, I want to make sure I'm doing it the best I can.

"It's about seeing what's best for West Indies cricket. I guess they felt as though I would have been the perfect person to come in at this stage in my career and see what impact I can have. And that's what I'm trying to do."

With West Indies starting a new journey in Test cricket under Roston Chase in the current World Test Championship, Hope will be expected to play a key role not only as a wicketkeeper-batter but also as a key member of the leadership group to guide the new skipper.

"Shai Hope is a class player," Chase said. "He has a lot of experience in the international arena. He's also the captain in the white-ball format. I'm just looking for him to lead by example as a senior player and someone that I can lean on in pressure situations and to help me lead the troops in being a competitive Test team."