Out-Of-Favour West Indies wicket-keeper and former vice captain Joshua Da Silva said he is missing playing for the regional team and is eager to return to the set up.
“I've had a taste of it before. It's something I don't want to lose out on and I genuinely miss it a lot,” Da Silva confessed during the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force practice match at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva on Monday.
However, with the upcoming revamped West Indies Championship, the 27 year old Queen’s Park skipper is focused on the immediate target at hand: Winning the first Four-Day title for the twin island country in two decades.
“Test cricket is where the heart is at and I want to be back playing for West Indies, doing my best for the region. But the first step is Trinidad and Tobago against the Leeward Islands. That's the most important thing for me right now, it’s scoring runs there, helping my team win games, and then the rest will take care of themselves.”
Da Silva is not nitpicking, but is willing to play any role the team requires.
“Anywhere they want me. I can open the bowling and all if they want. But whatever role they see me as or whatever is needed for me from a team perspective, I'm very happy to do,” Da Silva added.
The Trinidad and Tobago Red Force captain played 33 Test matches between December 2020 and December 2024 and was named vice captain in August of 2024.
During that time with the Test team, Da Silva recorded 1 238 runs at an average of 24.76 with one century and five fifties. Behind the stumps. He effected 127 dismissals, with six of them being stumpings.
While he was the vice captain of the historic team in 2025 that won its first Test in Pakistan since 1990, he was not in the playing XI for the two Tests, as Guyana captain Tevin Imlach was the preferred gloveman for the series. Imlach himself has given way to Shai Hope for the Australia series in July.
However Hope has since played as a specialist batsman in West Indies last four Tests, away to India and New Zealand and recorded two hundreds while Imlach returned behind the stumps. Based on the results of Hope batting at number four, it can be a permanent situation for the classy Barbadian batsman.
This has opened a door for Da Silva to return as direct competition with the Guyanese gloveman.
If his current form with Queen’s Park is anything to go by, he is on course for another bumper season this year at the regional level. For the 'Parkites', the right-handed batsmen is averaging 65 runs from six matches with one triple figure score and two fifties, as the Tragerete Road team is on course for a TTCB Premiership title, leading the standings ahead of Powergen and Bess Motors Marchin Patriots.
“What's meant to be will be,” Da Silva asserted. “At the end of the day, I go and play my cricket and I focus on myself. I focus on what I can do to better myself and play the best cricket I can score runs, take catches, and win games for Trinidad and Tobago. And if the selectors see it fit, I get the next opportunity, I'll be ready.”