Captain Joshua Da Silva said he was excited about leading West Indies A on their trip to South Africa because of the possibilities that it will present to the players. The team departed from Barbados on Tuesday for a trip on which they will play three four-day “Tests” against South Africa A between November 21 and 8 December. “It will be the second time that I will be going to South Africa for the year, but I am excited to lead this team and learning from the experience, I hope that everybody takes it with both hands, and we have a successful tour,” he said. He was speaking to CWI Media ahead of the team’s departure.

“It is just about taking the opportunity and gaining experience. We have a few young guys on the team, so it’s about them learning and doing the right thing, doing the basics well, gelling well with each other, and being happy for everyone’s success. Once we do those things, I have no doubt that everyone will play their part.” Da Silva was at the helm of the side when they visited Bangladesh earlier this year and won a three-match series 1-0. During that series, he reeled off scores of 77, 47 not out, 47 not out again, 82, and 47 to be the leading runscorer with 300 runs at an average of 100. “The conditions in South Africa … taking what I learned about them earlier in the year and hoping that I can take that knowledge and put it into this series and get a few good scores, and hopefully that will lead the team to a couple of victories,” he said.

 “A series win is definitely what we are going there to do. We going to play our hearts out to win every match. It’s not going to be easy, we know that for sure. But putting our best foot forward and doing the right things for as long as possible, I am pretty confident we can get the results.”Da Silva also felt the series could be good preparation for players hopeful of making the senior Test team for the tour of Australia from January to February. “The conditions in Australia are similar, so taking this opportunity to play some four-day matches before that Test series because we will not have any locally – to go to South Africa and play in those conditions, gain that experience, and gain some form for Australia will be good,” he said.

Tevin Imlach was named the vice captain and the squad includes five players with Test experience – Da Silva, left-handers Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Kirk McKenzie, and fast bowlers Jayden Seales and Shermon Lewis. Three players that made their first-class debuts this year were also named in the squad – batsman Kevlon Anderson, fast bowler and fellow Guyanese Shamar Joseph, and spin bowling all-rounder Abhijai Mansingh.

 Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)

FULL SQUAD: Joshua Da Silva (captain), Tevin Imlach (vice captain), Kevlon Anderson, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kavem Hodge, Akeem Jordan, Shamar Joseph, Shermon Lewis, Jair McAllister, Zachary McCaskie, Kirk McKenzie, Abhijai Mansingh, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair

Team Management: Andre Coley (Head Coach), Dwain Gill (Team Manager), Jimmy Adams (Assistant Coach), Shaun Tait (Assistant Coach), Barrington Gayle (Physiotherapist), Asia Joseph (Strength & Conditioning Coach)