St John's (Antigua), Mar 8 (IANS): Former West Indies leg-spinner Samuel Badree has been named as the assistant coach of the senior men's team for their upcoming white-ball series against South Africa.

As per Cricket West Indies (CWI), Badree will join the men's squad for the three ODIs and as many T20Is from March 16-28 in South Africa.

Badree, who has previously assisted CWI as a spin bowling consultant and worked for Delhi Capitals in the IPL, believes this opportunity to be 'a continuation and an extension of that'.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to be asked by CWI to join the team and work with this great group of players in South Africa for the white ball leg of the tour."

I look forward to catching up with the players, some who I played with and most I already know, as we seek to acquit ourselves well on what is expected to be a challenging tour of South Africa," he said on his appointment.

"I also look forward to sharing my knowledge and experiences with the players as we look to bring some positive results to our loyal fans," he added.

Badree is a two-time Men's T20 World Cup winner, playing a vital role in West Indies' title winning campaigns in Sri Lanka in 2012 and in India in 2016. He played 52 T20Is and picked up 56 wickets between 2012 and 2018 at an economy rate of 6.17. During that time, he was also the world's number one ranked bowler in T20Is.

"I'm happy that Samuel is going to be spending time with our white ball teams in South Africa. He brings plenty of international experience and a strong desire to assist our slow bowlers in becoming world class. We believe this combination makes him ideally placed to add tremendous value to our support staff in South Africa, and specifically for our slow bowlers," said Jimmy Adams, CWI's director of cricket.

West Indies are presently playing in a two-match Test series against South Africa, with the second Test currently taking place at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.