DID THE WEST INDIES CRICKET BOARD (WICB) know that a couple of the players selectedfor the Test leg of the England tour required visas for entry to the Mother Country?
What about the team’s manager, selectors, and the players themselves? Were they all in the dark about this requirement for citizens of some Caribbean countries?
I was asked this question repeatedly over the past few days ever since it was learnt, and not from the WICB’s communications unit, that Guyanese duo Narsingh Deonarine and Assad Fudadin were stuck in Jamaica.
No one wants to blame the wrong party for this foul-up, but West Indies cricket is not a fete or food match staged in some remote village.
This is supposed to be “the rightful governing body” of Caribbean cricket, administered by a set of high-ranking professionals, who are paid handsomely to oversee the affairs of West Indian cricketers.
I do not want to blame any individual, but can you imagine that instead of being in England and getting acclimatized, Deonarine and Fudadin were in Kingston playing club cricket last weekend?
And matters weren’t helped by the late arrival of Marlon Samuels from his Indian Premier League (IPL) commitments in India and an injury which Fidel Edwards left the Caribbean with. Luckily, there were showers of blessing!
But somehow I get the feeling the delay in naming the West Indies One-Day squad for the limited overs segment of the England tour has something to do with the selection of the now available again Chris Gayle.
At the belated Barbados Cricket Association’s awards ceremony last Thursday night at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, just two days before a new season started, Hilaire was at pains to point out the difference between selecting the “11 best” and the “best 11” cricketers.
One must surely wonder whether Hilaire has conveyed some sentiments to the selectors, whose responsibility it is to select the team.
Surprisingly, the Clyde Butts-chaired selection panel has not named their squad for next month’s “A” Team series against India, who announced their squad a fortnight ago.
Even New Zealand has named three separate teams for the Tests, ODIs and T20s for the series in the Caribbean starting June 30, after the England series.
So what is taking Butts, Courtney Browne and Robert Haynes so long in finalizing the West Indies’ ODI,
T20 and “A” Team squads?
In terms of the “A” Team squad, I don’t envy Butts and his fellow selectors.
The cupboard is extremely bare in Caribbean cricket if one were to judge the performances in this year’s Regional Four-Day Tournament by a number of underachievers who have recently found favour with the selectors.
What was extremely disappointing was the below-par returns of several young players, who were part of the Sagicor High Performance Centre (HPC) and a few others who have been selected on the West Indies’ “A” teams and even the senior side.
Let’s start with Test trio Kraigg Brathwaite (seven matches, 280 runs, average: 23.33, one half-century); Adrian Barath (four matches, 185 runs, ave: 30.83, one century) and Kieran Powell (four matches, 163 runs, ave: 20.37, one half-century).
Then we have Danza Hyatt (six matches, 251 runs, ave: 22.81); Omar Phillips (eight matches, 299 runs, ave: 19.93, three half-centuries); Nkrumah Bonner (five matches, 196 runs, ave: 21.77, one half-century), Kyle Corbin (six matches, 163 runs, ave: 14.81) and Shamarh Brooks (five matches, 76 runs, ave: 8.44, highest score 19).
It is also noteworthy that Jason Mohammed, who toured India last year, managed 152 runs in six matches at 15.20 with a highest score of 31 while Leon Johnson scored 327 runs in seven matches at an average of 25.15 and Justin Guillen managed 206 runs (ave: 20.60) in six matches. Former Test opener Devon Smith (205 runs in six matches, ave: 17.08) was even worse.
Even the young wicketkeepers Shane Dowrich (seven matches, 244 runs, ave: 24.40, two half-centuries); Devon Thomas (four matches, 169 runs, ave: 21.12, no half-centuries) and Chadwick Walton (six matches, 191 runs, ave: 19.10, one century) hardly boosted their chances of elevation.
Heavy-set Guyanese Derwin Christian (seven matches, 161 runs, ave: 16.10, highest score of 28), Lyndon James (six matches, 186 runs, ave: 16.90) and Andre Fletcher (six matches, 226 runs, ave: 20.54, one half-century).
On the plus side, tall, fast bowling all-rounders Jason Holder (23 wickets, ave: 18.17, plus 201 runs), Carlos Brathwaite (four matches, 13 wickets, ave: 21.00, 164 runs, ave: 32.80), and Kevin McClean (22 wickets, ave: 18.68) performed creditably.
Left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul (34 wickets in seven matches, ave: 20.47) captained the last “A” Team, but will he be preferred over Nikita Miller (49 wickets, ave: 10.75 in eight matches) or Sulieman Benn (45 wickets, ave: 14.71, eight matches) or even Ryan Austin (38 wickets, ave: 18.34, six matches)?
Another WICB-contracted player Nelon Pascal took 19 wickets at 27.21 and Delorn Johnson, an HPC graduate, bagged six wickets in four matches at 24.33. Donovan Pagon (569 runs in eight matches, ave: 37.93), and Jonathan Carter (504 runs in eight matches, ave: 33.60) both scored over 500 runs and should be guaranteed selection in the “A” Team whenever it is announced.
