Cricket-loving Guyanese can finally breathe a sigh of relief after left-arm spinner, Veerasammy Permaul, was included in the West Indies Test squad for the upcoming series against Bangladesh.
Cricket pundits were baffled by the 31-year-old’s non-selection for years despite finishing among the top three bowlers in the Regional First-Class tournaments.
The calls for his inclusion will finally be answered when the Albion Cricket Club bowler makes his first appearance at the Test level since 2015.
It was against the same opposition that Permaul made his debut back in 2012.
His Test career has spanned just six matches so far and has yielded 18 wickets at an average of 43.77.
There were strong calls for his selection for the tour of England earlier this year during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic but despite selecting an extended squad, Permaul’s name was not on the list.
His name was missing once again for the New Zealand series last month, the selectors contending that they had chosen the team best suited for the conditions.
Permaul could feel hard done in missing those two tours as he had finished as the leading bowler in the regional first class season where he returned a career-best of 15 for 77. Permaul also surpassed 500 first-class wickets, a figure which currently stands at 536 from 121 matches.
Now, in subcontinent conditions and with 10 players opting not to tour, he has been selected. According to chief selector, Roger Harper his inclusion was natural.
He told reporters on Tuesday via Zoom after the squad was named, “I think that was a natural and easy choice to make and we look forward to him doing his thing in Bangladesh and performing at the sort of high level he has done at the regional level.”
Harper added, “As you realize we are heading to Bangladesh where conditions are most likely to assist the spin bowlers and this is an opportunity for Permaul who has consistently done well at the regional level and had an excellent Regional four-day championship performance in the last one when he took 50 wickets so this is his opportunity and you would notice we have three spinners in the squad.”
