St. John's (Antigua), May 5 (IANS): Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Wednesday awarded newly-appointed Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo international contracts for red-ball and white-ball cricket, respectively for the 2021-22 season.

For the first time, five players -- leg-spinner Nkrumah Bonner, wicketkeeper-batsman Joshua Da Silva, upcoming allrounder Akeal Hosein and left-handed batsman Kyle Mayers -- have been awarded international retainer contracts.

West Indies chief selector Roger Harper said on Wednesday that" "Contracts offered for the 2021-22 period sees 18 players being retained, a decrease of four from last year. Jason Holder is the only player to retain his all-format contract due to his strong Test and T20I performances during the evaluation period.

"There are several new players offered red-ball contracts earned by their strong performances during the last period. A number of players were not retained because they did not meet the minimum requirements," said Harper.

The evaluation period for the 2021-22 contracts covered performances and statistics from April 1, 2020 to April 1, 2021.

Contract list:

All-Format Contracts: Jason Holder.

Red-ball contracts: Kraigg Brathwaite, Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Rahkeem Cornwall, Joshua Da Silva, Shannon Gabriel, Kyle Mayers and Kemar Roach.

White-ball contracts: Kieron Pollard, Fabien Allen, Darren Bravo, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Alzarri Joseph, Nicholas Pooran and Hayden Walsh Jr.