Dale Richards, the 33-year-old opener from Barbados, has said he has "nothing to lose" and will be under no pressure when he faces the new ball in the third Test against South Africa at Bridgetown, beginning on June 26.
Richards is one of only two openers in West Indies' 13-man squad and is certain to play his third Test - his first against top-flight opposition. Richards' first two Test opportunities were against Bangladesh in 2009, when several first-choice players went on strike.
"I only have two Test matches under my belt but at the end of the day, at 33 years old, there is nothing to lose. It's just about getting out there and doing my bits," Richards said. "A lot of people write off a lot of guys at 30 but I think when you get to that age, you understand batting more. I don't go in the game with any sort of pressure."
Richards was included in the squad at the expense of Guyana opener Travis Dowlin, who scored only 4, 1 and 10 in three innings during the first two Tests. Richards had played a part in the ODI series against South Africa and scored 157 runs at an average of 39.25, with two half-centuries in four innings.
"In the Digicel one-day series I backed myself and batted positively," Richards said. "This is Test cricket so I need to spend some time at the top of the order along with Chris [Gayle], but I think we should come out and play some very positive cricket. Some positive cricket will really help the people in the Caribbean."
West Indies trail 0-1 in the three-Test series and the Barbados contest is their final opportunity to salvage a win in the home series against the South Africans. Gayle's men lost the Twenty20 series 0-2, the ODIs 0-5 and drew the second Test after losing the first by 163 runs.