When Hope scored two century for West Indies against England in a first-class match at Headingley in 2017, he made history. Shan Masood, the captain of New Yorkshire, was called up by Pakistan and will miss the beginning of the season.
Darren Gough, the director of Yorkshire cricket, said about the signing, “We felt we needed just the one experienced face in and we went for Shai. He has been playing well for the West Indies in one-day matches, he has got a record of playing Test cricket – he had his two hundreds at Headingley before for the West Indies.”
Gough added: “Hope has literally just got home a few days ago so it is a straight turn around. He will have to adjust to playing red ball, from white ball but he is a fantastic player and it’s good to have someone of his quality to come in at short notice for three games.”
Shai Hope made his first-class debut in 2012–13, but following a stellar campaign in 2014–15, when he scored 628 runs in nine domestic matches and finished fourth in the WI regional four-day competition, he put himself into contention for the West Indies team.
In 2015–16, he scored 538 runs at an average of 67.25, the highest among the top–10 run scorers. In March 2017, he reached his first first–class double-hundred at Kensington Oval, his home field.
Recently, he captained the West Indies side against South Africa and scored a match winning ton in the second ODI. The series ended in a draw, his talent, maturity and quality in batting speaks why is a highly regarded batter in the world.