KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Former Jamaica Scorpions coach Junior Bennett said Nkrumah Bonner is poised to make his Test debut for West Indies on the Tour of Bangladesh next month.
Cricket West Indies has not announced a squad for the Tour, which includes two Tests and three One-day International from January 10 to February 16.
But Bennett said the fragility of the Windies batting was so cruelly exposed on the Tour of New Zealand, which ended earlier this month, that Bonner, 31, could be the right fit for the middle-order.
“The selection panel must be thinking about giving Bonner a chance in the next series based on his performances in the last first-class season and the fact that he toured with the team to England and New Zealand and did not get an opportunity,” Bennett told the Jamaica Observer newspaper.
Bonner has played only two Twenty20 Internationals for the Caribbean side, but he has made 69 first-class appearances, scored 3,321 runs at an average of 27.22.
Bennett, however, felt that Bonner’s batting in the 2019-20 West Indies Championship was a sign that he could bring some stability.
Bonner scored two hundreds in 523 runs from 13 innings at an average of 58.11 for the Scorpions.
“Our batting is still a major concern and I think Bonner is capable of holding our middle order together,” Bennett said.
“Bonner has the ability to concentrate for long periods of time. Therefore, he can hold the middle-order batting together where we are losing a cluster of wickets.”
