Oshane Thomas is a tall and muscular boy from Jamaica who first got noticed in the 2017 edition of the Caribbean Premier League where he impressed everyone with his express pace and ability to move the ball. Soon he was on the plane to India and made his debut in both the limited-over formats. Thomas intimidated the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma with his raw pace and earned quite a few admirers. Later that year, Oshane claimed his maiden 5-wicket haul in ODIs against England and also got selected by the Rajasthan franchise for the Indian T20 League. His biggest moment in life though was when he got named in the West Indies' squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

Oshane Thomas

The two-time champions, Jamaica Tallawahs will take part in the upcoming Caribbean Premier League edition as the wooden spoon holders from the previous season. They won only two out of their ten games finishing in the last position.As a result, they went into the player&rsquo;s draft retaining only five players. It is a new look Jamaica side this year, under a new management and captain looking to turn their fortunes upside down.Despite parting ways with Chris Gayle, the Tallawahs did well in retaining a performing bunch of players alongside their key players who could not participate the previous season. Glenn Phillips, the 23-year old wicketkeeper-batsman from New Zealand has made his name in CPL playing for Tallawahs and was one of the most impressive retentions by the franchise.&nbsp;Andre Russell and Rovman Powell are amongst those who missed a majority of the previous season but have been trusted to lift the franchise this year. Russell, particularly, is the biggest player in the side. He played only five matches in the previous season due to injury and his absence had a visible effect. Powell will return as captain.&nbsp;Both these allrounders have been troubled by injuries in the past but one silver lining the Tallawahs can draw from the five-month long cricket hiatus is the availability of both these players. Their fitness will play a critical role in Tallawahs&rsquo; campaign.Tallawahs also brought in Jermaine Blackwood and Ramaal Lewis as late replacements for Andre McCarthy and Jeavor Royal. McCarthy and Royal were omitted from the competition after coming in close contact with Dennis Bulli who had tested positive for Covid-19.&nbsp;The side will be coached by former West Indies cricketer, Floyd Reifer.&nbsp;StrengthsOne of the strong points of Mumbai Indians - one of the most successful T20 franchise - is the presence of three allrounders in their XI. The Tallawahs have followed the same suit this year by acquiring the service of allrounder Carlos Brathwaite to complement Russell and Powell. All of them are pace-bowling allrounders capable of hitting gigantic sixes lending the side flexibility in the XI.There is also Asif Ali in the squad. Tallawahs&rsquo; overseas recruit, Ali is a hard-hitter of the ball from Pakistan. In 161 T20s, he has a strike-rate of 149.2 alongside an average of 25.7 and is a perfect foil to give the Tallawahs&rsquo; batting a bold look in the middle-order.&nbsp;There is Phillips too at the top. A revelation in the CPL, he has been amongst the most successful openers in the league since 2018. In 2019, he outscored Gayle in the powerplay - scoring 221 runs at a strike-rate of 146.4 as compared to the left-hander&rsquo;s 139 runs at 120.9.&nbsp;<img src="https://images.cricket.com/articles/cdbe36c99ac2bc08f7149da650b8d8b219ebaae6.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Tallawahs&rsquo; spin attack is shaping up nicely. Sandeep Lamichhane was their first pick in the player&rsquo;s draft. Mujeeb-ur-Rahman&rsquo;s inclusion as a replacement for the unavailable Tabraiz Shamsi might turn out to be a blessing in disguise for them. A defensive spinner, Mujeeb hands control to Tallawahs in the first six overs with the ball. In 2019, they were the most expensive side with the ball during the field restrictions. Tallawahs went at 8.2 runs per over with spin. The duo of Lamichhane and Mujeeb have the calibre to make Tallawahs a force in the spin department.&nbsp;WeaknessTallawahs was battered with the ball in hand in the 2019 season. They conceded three scores in excess of 200, the most by a side. They conceded the highest first innings score as well as the highest successful run-chase in the league&rsquo;s history - 267 against Trinbago and 242 against St. Kitts &amp; Nevis Patriots respectively. Overall, Tallawahs suffered an economy of 9.5 runs per over, the worst by some distance.<img src="https://images.cricket.com/articles/2f43ae881aa8d9f045805f7c343ab41205952eae.png" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Their spin attack is in safe hands but the pace battery still remains unreliable making them vulnerable with the ball at death. Oshane Thomas, the only specialist bowler to be retained will have to step up. He had a poor season in 2019 leaking runs at 11.6 per over in the 24 overs he delivered.&nbsp;Tallawahs have also roped in Fidel Edwards who will be back to the CPL frame after five years. Though, he might not get a game straightaway given the presence of three pace-bowling allrounders in the XI.&nbsp;Despite the three allrounders, Tallawahs lack depth in their batting which ends with Brathwaite who is supposed to bat at seven. Hence, as dynamic as their middle order is, they also have the huge responsibility to churn out runs consistently.&nbsp;Squad<img src="https://images.cricket.com/articles/3eb5acfc4df775e663bf3cc76c85cd628b336772.jpg" style="width: 600px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"> Probable XISpin is expected to play a huge role in the 2020 CPL. Therefore, we might see Tallawahs field an extra spinner in the left-arm orthodox, Veerasammy Permaul. He also provides additional variety to the duo of Lamichhane and Mujeeb.&nbsp;Lewis may get the nod above Blackwood given the league this season has mandated the appearance of emerging players in at least five games for every franchise.&nbsp;Glenn Phillips (wk), Chadwick Walton, Ramaal Lewis, Rovman Powell (c), Andre Russell, Asif Ali, Carlos Brathwaite, Veerasammy Permaul, Sandeep Lamichhane, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, Oshane ThomasFirst MatchJamaica Tallawahs will begin their campaign facing St. Lucia Zouks on 19th August.

Jamaica Tallawahs occupied the last position in the points table previous season

Andre Dwayne Russell

Rovman Powell

Carlos Ricardo Brathwaite

Glenn Dominic Phillips

Sandeep Lamichhane

Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Oshane Romaine Thomas

Fidel Henderson Edwards

Veerasammy Permaul

Asif Ali

Caribbean Premier League, 2020

Jamaica Tallawahs

New look Tallawahs ready for the 2020 season

West Indies speedster Oshane Thomas is &quot;overweight&quot; and needs to work harder on his fitness to maintain pace and prolong his international career, feels former pacer Franklyn Rose. Rose, who took 53 wickets in 19 Tests and 29 scalps in 27 ODIs between 1997 and 2000, said he is concerned about the fitness of Thomas, who is currently in England for next month&#39;s three-Test series. &quot;I am a bit concerned because he looks overweight to me. I never met the guy, but I know he has a lot of talent, and that&#39;s why the Windies has taken him to England on tour. But he needs to keep working hard and be hungrier for success,&quot; Rose was quoted as saying by &#39;Jamaica gleaner&#39;.The 23-year-old Thomas is yet to play a Test but he has captured 27 wickets in 20 ODIs and 15 wickets in 12 T20Is. He took just two wickets in two innings in the West Indies inter-squad practice match at Old Trafford. Thomas&#39; ability to bowl over 90 miles per hour catapulted him to the West Indies set-up but Rose doubted if he will be able to maintain his pace. &quot;If I come on the scene bowling 90 miles per hour, I would want to maintain that for another five years. The question is, can he maintain that speed at the highest level if he is not at peak fitness?&quot;I can see that he has a lot of talent, and let me be clear, this is not about bashing Oshane Thomas. It is about helping him to achieve his optimum in cricket.&quot;Rose, however, admitted that he was a &quot;lazy cricketer&quot; during his career. &quot;I was a lazy cricketer, and I realised later on that it&#39;s all about hard work,&quot; he said.&quot;Sometimes, as fast bowlers, we get up and don&#39;t feel like training, but you have to think about the big bucks and the success that&#39;s ahead of you, and you have to have self-motivation and discipline to push on.&quot;The three-Test series, which will resume international cricket after coronavirus hiatus, will begin with the opening game at Ageas Bowl, Southampton on July 8.

The 23-year-old is yet to play a Test but he has captured 27 wickets in 20 ODIs and 15 wickets in 12 T20Is

Franklyn Albert Rose

West Indies tour of England, 2020

West Indies

Thomas looks overweight, needs to keep working hard: Rose

Ambitious rookie West Indies pacer Oshane Thomas wants to be counted among greats and knows that Test cricket is the route he needs to follow to realise his dream. Thomas was named a re25-member serve in West Indies&#39; 25-member squad for the England tour. The 23-year-old has so far represented West Indies in white-ball cricket after bursting onto the scene in 2018 but he is yet to play in the traditional format, considered to be the holy grail.&quot;I definitely want to play Test cricket; I want to do well in all three formats,&quot; Thomas, who has played 20 ODIs and 12 T20Is for West Indies so far, was quoted as saying by &#39;Jamaica Observer&#39;.&quot;Test cricket is really the ultimate that everyone wants to play to be great. You don&#39;t want to just be an average cricketer; you want to be among the greats.&quot;Thomas had earned a call-up in the Test squad during last year&#39;s home series against England which West Indies won 2-1 but the youngster didn&#39;t get a game. &quot;I didn&#39;t get to make my debut, but hopefully (I will) this time around,&quot; he said.Besides the 11 reserves, West Indies have announced a 14-man squad to tour England next week for the proposed three-Test series which will be held behind closed doors in a bio-secure environment to reduce the risk of transmission of the coronavirus. Thomas said he has received some words of encouragement from West Indies head coach Phil Simmons.&quot;Coach Phil (and I), we always have a talk. He says I can&#39;t be bowling that fast -- probably bowling the fastest in the Caribbean -- and not play in his Test team,&quot; said the Jamaican, who has so far scalped 27 wickets in 20 ODIs and claimed 15 wickets in 12 T20Is.&quot;I just want to relax, bowl, put the ball in the right areas and let the ball do the work. Even if I&#39;m not playing I&#39;ll be training and keeping my fitness up. If I&#39;m not playing I want to learn as much as a can.&quot;Thomas was in good nick before the coronavirus pandemic forced a cricket shutdown across the globe. The towering pacer had claimed a five-wicket haul in the first T20I as West Indies blanked hosts Sri Lanka 2-0 in early March. &quot;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.&quot;I&#39;m very happy to be back bowling and I&#39;m looking forward to playing Test cricket. It&#39;s just up to me as a person; I just need to be fit and ready, and I should be in the Test team,&quot; he said.Thomas had escaped serious injuries when he met an accident in February this year.

The West Indies fast bowler wants to do well in all three formats and wants to be among the greats

Thomas hopeful making Test debut against England

Oshane Thomas is only 23 but in his short international career, the lanky pacer has shown the ability to hurl a ball at menacing speeds, ruffling up the best of batsmen. England found it the hard way when they were shot out for a paltry 113 in a one-day international in March 2019 with Thomas leading the way with figures of 5/21.Thomas was first discovered by Andrew Richardson, the Jamaica Tallawahs team coach at the Melbourne Cricket Club, in Jamaica and was immediately offered a contract. The likes of Chris Gayle and Andre Russell were mighty impressed by what they saw of Thomas and it was not long after that he made his international debut.It has been quite a journey for Thomas but the road has not always been as rosy for the 6 feet 6 inches tall pacer. Growing up in Clarendon, in Jamaica where daily livelihood was often a struggle, Thomas found an exit through cricket. But it was still not as easy.Thomas lost an elder brother to bullets of a drug-running mafia in Clarendon when he was fairly young and despite trying to concentrate on his cricket as much as possible, the neighborhood always somehow caught up to him. In a show brought together by Caribbean Premier League, known as CPL Life Stories, Thomas visits the site of his brother&#39;s murder, talks about how that impacted his life and how cricket helped him get back on his feet.&quot;I was nine or 10 around that time and didn&rsquo;t know much about life, but it was hard on my mum,&quot; says Thomas choking repeatedly trying to hold back tears as he recalls the shooting of his brother. &quot;It was not a gang war or anything but a case of mistaken identity. My brother got shot in the foot and it ended up broken so he couldn&#39;t run and they (the gang) went over and gave him like six (bullets) more.&quot;It&#39;s tough for a while but eventually you get over things. You never forget your family but eventually, you get over things,&quot; says Thomas as he asks the driver of the car that he is travelling to pull aside and shows the site where his brother was found.<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/915x1fBODE0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>The episode shows how Thomas then moved to Melbourne Cricket Club, in Jamaica, was spotted by the Jamaica franchise and moved onto make his debut during the 2016 season.Thomas played only two matches during CPL 2016, where he managed a lone wicket and two matches during the 2017 season but his pace and hostility had already become a talking point. The 2018 season was one where Thomas showed what he really was capable of. In 10 matches, the pacer returned 18 wickets, the second-highest that season only behind Fawad Ahmed&#39;s 22 at an impeccable strike rate of 12.7.Things changed quite quickly for the speedster after that season as he was drafted into the West Indies team and soon made his international debut against India, in Guwahati.&quot;2017 CPL was my big breakout year and from that year I told myself that I won&#39;t look back,&quot; Thomas said.Having already had success in the CPL and for West Indies, the next step was the IPL and soon enough he was picked up by Rajasthan Royals for a whopping INR 1.1 Cr during the 2019 auctions.&quot;The IPL was a lot of fun; they treat you like a king. In Rajasthan Royals, they treat you like a family. I was there on the bench for ten games, you&#39;ve still had to hold your focus because only four overseas players can play &ndash; Steve Smith, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, and Jos Buttler and a youngster coming in, knowing I can&rsquo;t play alongside those four so I told myself to keep focussing.&quot;Finally, I got a crack and I did well. It was really good and I am looking forward to the next IPL. Hopefully, I could go on to start in the Rajasthan Royals&rsquo; team.&quot;Thomas played four matches in IPL 2019 where he picked up five wickets striking every 12 balls which included the wickets of David Warner and Andre Russell.The last few months have not been kind to Thomas. He escaped serious injuries when he was involved in a motor accident in February 2018 in Jamaica. With things slowly returning to normalcy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Thomas will be looking to secure a permanent place in all three formats for the West Indies.

In CPL Life Stories, Thomas visits the site of his brother's murder, talks about how that impacted his life and how cricket helped him get back on his feet

From losing a brother to bullets to playing international cricket – The Oshane Thomas story

A magnificent opening spell from Oshane Thomas inspired West Indies to a 25-run win over Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.During the Powerplay, Thomas struggled with his line, bowling as many as seven wides across his three overs. But when he got it right, the Sri Lankan batsmen struggled. He first took three wickets off four deliveries in his first over - dismissing Avishka Fernando (7), Kusal Mendis (0) and Shehan Jayasuriya (0).Just as Angelo Mathews looked to get going, the former Sri Lankan captain had to head back to the pavilion for 10 thanks to a brilliant catch in the outfield from Andre Russell. It was Thomas with the wicket once again and the pacer struck again when he bowled Dasun Shanaka (2) off the final delivery of the Powerplay.Interestingly, before this match, Oshane Thomas had bowled 24 overs during the first six overs of an innings in T20Is and had taken just five wickets during this phase. In this game, he managed to double that tally!&nbsp;With Sri Lanka having lost five wickets in the Powerplay, many would have thought &#39;game over&#39; at the time. It was far from being the case though as Kusal Perera and Wanindu Hasaranga brought Sri Lanka back into the game with a brilliant partnership of 87.After Perera notched up his 12th T20I half-century and the hosts needing 56 runs to win from the final five overs, the match seemed to be in the balance.That was when Rovman Powell, who was in the middle of an impressive spell, got the breakthrough for the Windies. Hasaranga, who was batting on 44, was struck right in front of the stumps off a full toss. While the on-field umpire gave the decision in favour of the batsman, once West Indies took the review, there was little doubt that Hasaranga was out.Russell dismissed Perera with a superb yorker in the following over and after that it was all one-way traffic. Sri Lanka were eventually bowled out for 171.Earlier, a half-century from Lendl Simmons and quickfire knocks from Russell and Kieron Pollard guided the defending T20 World Cup champions to 196/4 in their 20 overs.At the start, with Simmons keen to get off the mark quickly, Sri Lanka were presented with a chance off just the second delivery of the match. Lasith Malinga began the match with a couple of attempted yorkers and Simmons took a risky single. Luckily for the West Indian opener, the throw didn&rsquo;t hit the stumps and he survived.Both Simmons and Brandon King started steadily before the former decided to take on Isuru Udana and scored 20 runs in the final over of the Powerplay.Lakshan Sandakan provided a much-needed breakthrough for Sri Lanka in the ninth over. The left-arm wrist-spinner dismissed King for a well-made 33 after the opening partnership had put on 74 - the highest first wicket partnership for West Indies against Sri Lanka in T20Is.Simmons soon notched up his eighth T20I half-century, this one off just 31 deliveries. His partner at the other end, Nicholas Pooran (14), got a start but couldn&#39;t capitalise.Russell was promoted to number four and it turned out to be an inspired decision. The West Indian all rounder took just four deliveries to make his intentions known as he hit Sandakan for a six which was followed by a four. He quickly moved to 35, hitting two fours and three sixes along the way, before getting bowled by a trademark Malinga yorker.There was little respite for Sri Lanka with West Indies skipper Pollard walking in to bat next and scoring 34 from just 15 deliveries.&nbsp;Simmons was unbeaten on 67 at the end of the innings.The second and final T20I of the series will be played at the same ground on Friday.

Oshane Thomas

Debut

Player Bio

Oshane Thomas in News

New look Tallawahs ready for the 2020 season

Thomas looks overweight, needs to keep working hard: Rose

Thomas hopeful making Test debut against England

From losing a brother to bullets to playing international cricket – The Oshane Thomas story

Oshane Thomas takes five wickets as West Indies win first T20I