Shai Diego Hope
Shai Hope is a Barbadian cricketer, who plays as a wicketkeeper/batsman for the West Indies cricket team. He is also the current ODI captain of the West Indies team. In June 2018, he was named the Men’s Cricketer of the Year, Test Cricketer of the Year, and the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the annual Cricket West Indies Awards. He was named the CWI ODI Player of the Year the following year. He is generally regarded as one of the best ODI batsmen in the contemporary cricketing world. Hope has also twice been named, for both 2020 and 2022, in the ICC ODI Team of the Year.
In 2017, Hope was a key member of the Barbados team that won the Regional Super50 scoring centuries in both the semi-final and final, and was named Man of the Match in both games.
In November 2019, Hope was selected to play for the Rangpur Rangers in the 2019-20 Bangladesh Premier League. In July 2020, he was named in the Barbados Tridents squad for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League.
In October 2022, Hope was named as the new captain for the 2020-22 Regional Super50 tournament. In April 2023, he joined the English Club Yorkshire for three games of the 2023 County Championship season.
Hope made his Test Debut against England on May 1, 2015. In August 2016, he was part of the West Indies squad for their Test series against India.
Hope debuted his One Day International in the second tri-series match against Sri Lanka.
In 2017, Hope scored his maiden Test ton in the second Test against England. He guided the West Indies' first away victory against England. He was awarded Man of the Match for his performance. His contribution in the 2017 tour of England was recognized in April 2018 when he was named one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
In December 2017, Hope made his T20I debut for the West Indies against New Zealand.
In December 2018, Cricket West Indies awarded Hope a contract across all formats of cricket for the 2018-19 season.
In May 2019, Hope played in his 50th ODI match, in the opening fixture of the 2019 Ireland Tri-Nation Series.
Hope was named in the West Indies squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The International Cricket Council named Hope as the key player of the West Indies squad prior to the tournament. On 17 June 2019, in the match against Bangladesh, Hope played in his 100th international match for the West Indies.
On 22 December 2019, during the third match against India, Hope became the second fastest batsman, in terms of innings, to score 3000 runs in ODIs, doing so in his 67th innings.
He was later named in the 2019 ICC team of the Year. In June 2020, Hope was named in the West Indies Test squad for their series against England.
In July 2022, Hope played his 100th ODI match against India. In 21 March 2023, Hope scored 128 not out to spur the West Indies to win the second ODI of their tour of South Africa. He was
the second West Indian to score a century on his ODI captaincy debut.
In December 2023, he scored his 16th ODI century against England in the first game of the three-match series. Hope has crossed 5000 runs in ODIs becoming the fastest ever West Indian to reach the mark and the third fastest in the world.
