Spinner Akeal Hosein and youngster Jyd Goolie experienced challenges in joining the West Indies squad for the upcoming T20 Internationals against England and Ireland, Cricket West Indies (CWI) said on Friday.
The challenges are due to updated UK visa entry requirements for Trinidad and Tobago citizens, which came into effect on April 23 and May 12. These changes required both players to submit visa applications and attend mandatory in-person appointments.
“Akeal, who was selected for both the England and Ireland legs of the tour, was granted permission to fulfill his commitments with the extended Pakistan Super League until mid-May. Jyd was called up for the Ireland series after Roston Chase was named Test captain on May 16. Chase was set to leave the UK to join the Test camp in Barbados, creating an opening in the squad. However, Jyd was unable to secure the required visa waiver, as the transition period for Trinidad and Tobago residents had already expired,” CWI Director of Cricket, Miles Bascombe, explained in a statement.
CWI made formal efforts to expedite the visa process for Akeal and applied for a visa waiver for Jyd. However, these processes are ultimately governed by UK immigration authorities and remain outside of CWI’s control.
In the interim, Chase will now remain with the T20 squad for the rest of the series before joining his Test team counterparts well ahead of the first Test against Australia in Barbados.
West Indies plays England in their first of three T20Is on June 6.
