IT WAS bound to happen, sooner or later.
It probably happened sooner than we expected.
What am I am talking about? The dropping of Tino Best from the Barbados cricket team.
It has come one match after he was reinstated to the team in controversial circumstances following a one-match suspension.
None of us should be surprised that Best wasn’t in the 13-man squad that headed for Guyana yesterday.
Ever since the turn of events last week that led to his reinstatement to the team, it appeared that the selectors and the Barbados Cricket?Association’s (BCA) board of management were not singing from the same hymn sheet.
After Best served his suspension, the selectors refused to pick him.
The following day, the BCA board determined that there was no obstacle to his return to the squad or his availability for selection in the final XI since his non-selection was not for disciplinary reasons.
Had I been a selector, I would have regarded such actions by the board as a slap in the face.
Best returned to the starting line-up even though I doubt he would have played had Pedro Collins not been ruled out on the first morning of the match with a back injury.
It’s now history that Best’s performance was nothing to shout about – one for 73 in 17 overs in the first innings and two for 62 from 13.3 overs in the second.
I want to ask a few questions.
Bearing in mind all of the circumstances leading up to the match, do you believe that Best would have been in the right frame of mind to give of his best? Was he under undue pressure? Could he have felt comfortable?
With Collins fit again, here was the first chance for the selectors to sideline Best and they duly went that route.
The BCA board is powerless to alter that decision.
At a time when we are talking about exposing players to the West Indies selectors, we have axed someone who the same West Indies selectors only last month named as a reserve for the World Cup squad.
Chances are that if Kemar Roach, Ravi Rampaul or Andre Russell were to sustain an injury in Delhi today or tomorrow, Best would be packing his bags for the World Cup.
If that were to happen, wouldn’t it be difficult to explain why the West Indies selectors want Best and the Barbados selectors do not?
It is interesting to note that the Barbados selectors have altered the balance of the squad to include another bowler. Leg-spinner Ryan Layne has been picked for the first time in six years in a move that tells us that either the selectors expect conditions in Guyana to suit the slower bowlers or they feel that Shamarh Brooks and Ryan Hinds have not adequately done the job expected of them with the ball.
The selection of any team is always a challenging assignment in a voluntary role. It is for that reason that I seldom criticize selectors, although I might not necessarily agree with their choices.
This is just one of those times.