West Indies’ leading T20 spinner, Akeal Hosein, is set to miss the opening T20I against England at Chester-le-Street in Durham. He may well be absent for the rest of the three-match series due to visa complications. The issue stems from recent changes to UK visa regulations affecting citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, which came into effect on April 12 this year.
Under the new rules, applicants from Trinidad and Tobago are now required to appear in person for their visa applications to be processed. Unfortunately, Hosein was participating in the Pakistan Super League at the time and was therefore unable to be physically present to complete the necessary formalities. As a result, he has not yet been granted a visa.
Another Trinidad and Tobago player, Jyd Goolie, finds himself in a similar position. Goolie was a late call-up to replace Roston Chase, who was originally part of the squad for the T20 leg of the England tour. However, due to the same visa restrictions and time constraints, Goolie has also been unable to secure a visa.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) Director of Cricket, Miles Bascombe, made it clear that the board is not responsible for the delay. He emphasised that the new regulations were outside of CWI’s control and had unfortunately impacted the players’ availability.
In the meantime, Roston Chase, who was initially scheduled to return home early to prepare for the upcoming series against Australia, will remain with the squad until the situation regarding Hosein and Goolie is resolved or the series concludes. CWI remains hopeful that the visa issues will be sorted in time for both players to take part in the matches against England or, at the very least, be available for the subsequent T20Is against Ireland.
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