Against Sri Lanka at Galle, Russell ended the Test with figures of 1-104 and just two runs from his solitary innings. Now 31 and not having played a first-class match in over six years, it seems increasingly unlikely that Russell will feature in another Test for West Indies.

Russell’s name cropped up in a discussion on the latest Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast when the panel of Ben Gardner, Phil Walker, Jo Harman and Yas Rana were picking a ‘What could have been’ XI of players who played a limited amount of Test cricket since 1990. This is what Phil and Ben said about Russell’s potential in Test cricket:

Phil Walker: I went with Andre Russell. I just think the modern game, with him at seven or eight bowling 90 miles per hour as a partnership breaker. If he had the body and more centrally, the mind to be moved by Test cricket and also the pitches as well, it must be a thankless task bowling quick into the pitch in the West Indies. He could been become an interesting Test match cricketer.

Ben Gardner: I find the Andre Russell thing intriguing. As well as the reasons Phil mentioned, there’s the discord in West Indies cricket that had its effect on his career. [Had it not been there it] might have led him to play more Test cricket.

He put his body through hell just for the sake of that national cause. I’m quite fond of him as a cricketer and think that in a side that could afford to include him he’d have been a really devastating Test cricketer. Could he be a six though? That’s the question.

You can listen to the full episode of the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast on Spotify or the Podcast App