With more white-ball players set to be selected for the West Indies Test team starting in 2025, former West Indies and Jamaica spinner Nikita Miller believes they will need more exposure to red-ball cricket if they are to succeed at the highest level.

Daren Sammy, who took charge of the men’s One-Day International (ODI) and T20 teams in May 2023, will take over as head coach of the Test team next April, replacing Jamaican Andre Coley.

The appointment of the St Lucian as the head coach for all formats has led to suggestions that more players from the limited-overs teams will now participate more in Test cricket. Over the years, there have been calls for the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope to join the red-ball set-up.

In a recent interview, Cricket West Indies (CWI) Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe said the prospect of white-ball players becoming available for Test cricket was more likely.

“We’re still in discussions with many of these players about transitioning into Test cricket,” he said. “For many of them, it’s a case of preparation; they’d ideally like to play some four-day, get some first-class games under their belts and get that confidence. They know it’s a significantly different challenge in Test cricket than it is with T20 cricket or ODI cricket, but those conversations have been going quite well and I expect pretty soon to see some of the players making the transition.”

Miller, who had 60 appearances across all formats for the West Indies, says the transition for the players can be manageable once they are deliberate about working on their red-ball skills.

“If they didn’t come up playing a lot of red-ball cricket, they can still have a career in Test cricket and perform well. It’s just that once you’re in Test cricket, you’re going to need that practice; you’re going to need to be playing first-class cricket when there’s no other cricket going,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“If you’re going to play Test cricket for any period of time, when an opportunity arises to play first-class cricket, whether a county team, regional team or whatever, play some red-ball cricket at that level because that can prepare you for playing Test cricket.”

Miller, who has won multiple Four-Day, Super 50 and Caribbean Premier League titles throughout his playing career, says the players can still have a fruitful career in the shortest versions of the game, once they find the right balance.

“You take [Australia’s] David Warner, for example. He burst onto the scene through T20 cricket but when the opportunity arose, he went back and played red-ball cricket. He still plays T20 so I don’t think it’s a situation that when you start playing Test cricket, you should do away with T20 cricket or play less. If you’re going to be good in anything, you need to practise.”

The former Jamaica Scorpions captain says the players’ white-ball experiences can be beneficial in Test matches but still believes red-ball cricket is the most effective teacher of the game.

“You can have a situation within the game when it’s a 10-over game when it’s fast-paced and have to be aggressive. There’s a period when it can be a T20 situation where you have to be aggressive but watchful. It could be a situation like a 50-over game when you build then accelerate and then there’s a period where you need to be really patient,” he said.

“Red-ball cricket offers all the situations you can think about: T10, T20, 50 overs along with the Test cricket situations so it prepares you for all the versions. If you have a background in red-ball cricket, it doesn’t have to be at the highest level. It could be at club or national level, once you played that cricket it helps you adjust.”

It’s expected that several of the Windies current white-ball players will participate in the upcoming Regional Four Day competition. The Windies will play two Tests in Pakistan in January before hosting Australia in June.