EXCLUSIVE Yorkshire keen to re-sign West Indies captain Shai Hope for start of County Championship season… but his stunning century against England could scupper deal

• Shai Hope featured twice for Yorkshire in County Championship earlier this year 
• The 30-year-old proved extremely popular with players and the coaching staff
• His availability could depend on if he features in Windies’ T20 World Cup plans

Yorkshire are trying to re-sign West Indies captain Shai Hope for the start of the 2024 County Championship season.

Hope – whose 16th one-day international hundred downed England in the opening match of this white-ball tour – featured twice for the club earlier this year, hitting 83 on debut against Leicestershire and adding an unbeaten half-century at Sussex.

The 30-year-old proved extremely popular with the Yorkshire players during his brief stay and the coaching staff led by Darren Gough and Ottis Gibson placed him at the top of their wishlist when looking at overseas recruits for next year, believing he possesses the cool head they require in the middle order.

There are complications, however. Not least that Yorkshire’s identifying of Hope came before England’s premier batter Joe Root told the club he will play County Championship cricket next spring.

Root pulled out of the Indian Premier League reckoning to concentrate on Test preparations for next summer when England host West Indies and Sri Lanka in three-match series from July-September.

West Indies captain Shai Hope scored a century in victory over England in first ODI on Sunday

Big-hitting batter Hope could still feature in the Windies’ T20 World Cup plans

But with uncertainty over the availability of Shan Masood, following his appointment as Pakistan Test captain, and Dawid Malan, who said prior to being axed by England that he wanted to play white-ball only, Yorkshire could find room for both men across the seven Championship matches scheduled for the opening two months of the campaign.

The other issue is whether the form Hope showed on Sunday in hitting his fastest international hundred persuades the selectors he should be in Windies’ Twenty20 World Cup plans – preparation for that tournament begins next May and would clash with the proposed county deal.

Despite an outstanding ODI record – of those to have scored at least 2,500 career runs, his average of 51.52 places him fifth – he has previously struggled to make an impact in the shortest format, appearing in just eight of the past 68 T20 internationals.

West Indies name their squad to face England in a five-match Twenty20 series on Wednesday.

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