Perreira suggests Hope should lead Test team as well
Published:Wednesday | April 9, 2025 | 12:10 AM
CASTRIES, Saint Lucia (CMC):
EVEN WITH a three-year hiatus on his resumé, veteran cricket commentator Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira believes that ODI and T20 captain Shai Hope is still the best man to captain the West Indies Test team.
Perreira, who has been commentating for more than five decades, said it would make sense for Cricket West Indies to have an all-fomat captain, much in the same way they have done with Daren Sammy.
Kraigg Brathwaite stepped down from the role of Test captain last week, with CWI yet to name his replacement.
The 31-year-old Hope was recently appointed captain of the T20 side, taking over from Rovman Powell.
However, he last played a Test match for the West Indies against Sri Lanka in 2021.
Speaking as part of a Sports Reporter Round Table recently, Perreira said Hope was the best candidate under the circumstances.
“Throughout the Caribbean, people have been trying to work out who may be the best person to appoint as the red-ball captain.
“My own feeling is, keep it simple. If you have an all-format coach in Daren Sammy, both white-ball and red-ball, simplify it. Ask Hope to also be your Test captain. I think it will work in unison with the coach, I think it will work nicely with [director of cricket] Miles Bascombe,” Perreira said.
“Hope is highly respected, he’s an ultimate pro. He goes about his life in a very orderly way, no ro-ro stories about him, and I think that he will make an excellent captain, and he will be a long-term captain, because he’s young enough.”
However, Perreira said Hope, who has played 38 Test matches and scored 1726 runs with two centuries and five half centuries at an average of 25.01, would have to significantly improve those statistics.
“I will also say that he will have to improve his Test record.
“He started brilliantly. One can always remember him at Headingley, he and Brathwaite in that partnership that helped to beat England, but he will know that he will have to push up that Test average into the middle 30s,” said Perreira.