Rovman Powell of West Indies hits a six during the fourth Twenty20 international cricket match against Australia at Warner Park in Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis, on Saturday, July 26. (Photo: AFP)
Batsmen Rovman Powell and Brandon King are set to be the only Jamaicans in the West Indies squad for next month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Although Cricket West Indies have already submitted a provisional squad to cricket’s world governing body, the final squad for the February 7 to March 8 tournament — which Powell and King are set to feature in — will be named after the team’s final match of their T20 series against Afghanistan on January 22.
Powell, who is being rested for the Afghanistan series, is set to make the cut despite being stripped of the T20 captaincy by Head Coach Daren Sammy last year. After his appointment in February 2023, the 32-year-old power hitter led the Windies to 19 wins from 37 T20 internationals, which included their Super 8 stage run at the 2024 World Cup in the Caribbean. Despite the team’s rise from ninth to fifth in the ICC T20I rankings, Powell was replaced by Shai Hope in March 2025.
However, he has remained an integral part of the squad, having played in six of their seven series last year and is set to play in his third-consecutive T20 World Cup. Powell scored 321 runs in 15 innings in 2025 at a strike rate of 154, with a top score of 79 against England last June.
King is also set to join Powell in making three-straight T20 World Cup appearances. The 31-year-old top-order batsman was named captain of the T20 series against Afghanistan starting next Monday, and will likely keep his place in the Caribbean squad for the World Cup.
King, who averages 26 at a strike rate of 133 in his career, registered two half centuries in his 10 innings last year, with both coming against Australia in the Windies home series last July.
CWI Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe says an official confirmation of the squad will be named following the Afghanistan series.
“We have the good fortune of having Afghanistan and South Africa before we head into the warm-up matches for the World Cup, so the idea is that we use Afghanistan to sort of finalise our squad,” Bascombe said on WESN TV in Trinidad. “We didn’t like the idea of naming a provisional squad and then having to announce changes to that squad. We submitted aprovisional squad as we had to, but we did inform the ICC that, following that series against Afghanistan, that is when we will formalise our squad.”
The likely inclusion of Powell and King would maintain Jamaica’s representation at all 10 T20 World Cups, though it would be the first time the squad features no more than two players from the island.
Powell, King, Andre Russell, and Fabian Allen were selected in 2024.
The two-time champions West Indies begin their Group C campaign against Bangladesh on February 7 before taking on England February 11, Nepal on February 15, and Italy on February 19. The top two will advance to the quarter-final stage.
Brandon King of West Indies plays a shot in the second Twenty20 match against Australia at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)
