Chase: 'I know how to bring the best out of players'

Roston Chase, West Indies' new Test captain, believes that he can bring the best out of his players with his "calm style". Chase, 33, last played a Test match in March 2023 and had previously led West Indies in two white-ball internationals but despite the lack of recent game-time in red-ball cricket and limited captaincy experience, he was picked as the Test captain. Chase's first assignment as Test captain is a three-match series against Australia at home, which begins in Bridgetown on June 25.

"I've never captained a senior team in terms of the West Indies team or Barbados team [in Tests]. But I've captained eight teams in the West Indies before," Chase said during an interaction facilitated by FanCode, the official broadcaster for West Indies in India. "I think I'm a good leader. Obviously, I'm not perfect. I'm still learning."

"I did most of my captaining in my early days like school level and local divisions. I think I have a calm style [as captain]. I really know how to bring out the best in the players that I have."

Chase will work with Daren Sammy, who has taken charge as West Indies all-format coach from April this year.

"The captaincy conversations that I had would have been with the coach, Daren Sammy, and Miles Bascombe from the board," Chase said. "I've been out for two years, but after Sammy approached me about coming back because I always wanted to come back and play Test cricket.

"I was exploring the white ball and the franchise cricket for a bit. And he asked me about coming back and I thought about it and I ended up making the decision to come back."

Chase said he was "very excited" to take up the new role and that he was not ready to play Test cricket last year.

"I was very excited to get the captaincy. I mean, it is a very prestigious job," he said. "One that many greats before me have done. So, it was a very proud moment for me when I got the news.

"I was asked in 2024 about coming back. But at that time, I was still finding my feet and trying to get into the franchise leagues. So, I wasn't quite ready and had the time or the availability to come back into the Test arena. But after I had the conversation with Sammy and Bascombe, I decided that this was the right time for me to come back."

Chase, who has scored 2265 runs in 49 Tests with five hundreds, said that West Indies are ready for the Australia challenge. "I wouldn't call it [playing Australia] pressure," he said. "They're obviously the No.1 team in the world. We're just looking to go there and play our best cricket, execute the plans that we spoke about in our team meetings and the data that has been presented to us.

"So, we're just looking to go there and give a full 100 [percent] effort and play some hard cricket."