The West Indies tour of England set to commence on 8 July will mark the resumption of cricket more than three months after the coronavirus imposed lockdown that prevented any sort of cricketing activity from happening. Three West Indies players Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer and Keemo Paul have already declined to travel to England for the tour. Amid all this, West Indies pacer Oshane Thomas is looking forward to play Test match cricket as he wants to be counted among the greats and playing regular Test cricket would help him fulfill his dream.

Although the 23-year-old has played regular white-ball cricket for West Indies after making his debut in 2018, he is yet to don the West Indies whites.

“I definitely want to play Test cricket; I want to do well in all three formats,” Thomas, who has played 20 ODIs and 12 T20Is for West Indies so far, was quoted as saying by ‘Jamaica Observer’.

“Test cricket is really the ultimate that everyone wants to play to be great. You don’t want to just be an average cricketer; you want to be among the greats.” Thomas added.

“I didn’t get to make my debut, but hopefully (I will) this time around,” he said.

Thomas stated that he received some encouraging advice from the West Indies head coach Phil Simmons.

“Coach Phil (and I), we always have a talk. He says I can’t be bowling that fast — probably bowling the fastest in the Caribbean — and not play in his Test team,” said the Jamaican.

“I just want to relax, bowl, put the ball in the right areas and let the ball do the work. Even if I’m not playing I’ll be training and keeping my fitness up. If I’m not playing I want to learn as much as a can.”

“Coming back from the Sri Lanka tour — a good series (and taking) a five-wicket haul and then the pandemic just came into play and no cricket. Last week is my first week back bowling on a pitch. I had been doing some little bowling here and there.

“I’m very happy to be back bowling and I’m looking forward to playing Test cricket. It’s just up to me as a person; I just need to be fit and ready, and I should be in the Test team,” he said.

The Jamaican pacer was lucky to escape serious injuries despite meeting an accident in February this year.

(With inputs from PTI)