West Indies Allrounder Andre Russell is back in the T20I squad for the first time since March 2020.

Russell has joined  Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Oshane Thomas, and Hayden Walsh Jr. as one of the team’s five newcomers.

Sunil Narine, meanwhile, continues to miss out, with Cricket West Indies revealing the spinner informed lead selector Roger Harper he wasn’t yet ready to return to international cricket

The series against South Africa begins on June 26 and ends on July 3, with all five games taking place in Grenada. The five T20Is against Australia will take place in St Lucia, while the five matches against Pakistan will be held in Barbados and Guyana.

West Indies T20I squad:

Kieron Pollard (capt), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jnr

🌴 West Indies have named an 18-man provisional squad for the T20I series against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/FMblKYAuTT

— ICC (@ICC) May 18, 2021

“These upcoming T20Is are crucial in terms of our preparation for the ICC T20 World Cup,” said Windies coach Phil Simmons.

“We are at that point where we have identified those who we will look to be the core of the squad to defend our World Cup title. 

“We won five years ago, so the next few weeks and months will be major stepping stones on the road towards defending our title and being World Champions for a third time.”