Maiden contracts for Kaysia Schultz, Qiana Joseph as West Indies expand list to 18

"The last contract period did not see many international matches as we only played five T20I matches against England," CWI's Lead Selector for Women's and Girls cricket, Ann Browne-John said.

"Despite this, the contracted players were able to keep themselves fit and match ready. It was, therefore, the fairest decision to return all fifteen to contract.”

Schultz, the young left-arm spinner, received her maiden call-up to the national side for the series against England, while left-arm seamer Joseph played a couple of ODIs in 2017, as a 17-year-old. Hector, the Antiguan seam bowler, last played an ODI in 2019 against India.

"It is really a positive that three new development contracts have been awarded for the upcoming year. This will allow the requisite focus to be placed on these young players as they continue to progress their careers," said Browne-John.

"There has been a lack of left-arm orthodox bowlers in the region, therefore Joseph and Schultz will hopefully help fill this void; with Joseph also bringing her left-hand batting skills which is also limited in the region. Hector is one of the bright young fast bowlers who has been bowling with great aggression in the past few training camps."

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The youngsters' inclusion in the list of contracted players, which is now 18, comes on the back of captain Stafanie Taylor's views about having a "feeder system" through which more young players could come into the setup and rub shoulders with the experienced ones like Taylor, Hayley Matthews and Anisa Mohammed. West Indies were blanked 0-5 against England in September after they were knocked out in the T20 World Cup earlier last year.

“I am delighted for all the players who have been awarded central contracts, especially those who are new to the contract list,” said CWI’s Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams.

“We saw fit to expand the list of retained players by awarding additional development contracts to three young players who the selectors strongly recommended for inclusion.”

The team is currently in Antigua for their second high-performance camp of the year under newly appointed Head Coach Courtney Walsh.

Contracted players: Aaliyah Alleyne, Shemaine Campbelle, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Sheneta Grimmond, Shawnisha Hector, Chinelle Henry, Qiana Joseph, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Kaysia Schultz, Shakera Selman, Stafanie Taylor.