Alfred Mentore, Demerara Cricket Club president said yesterday that he was extremely baffled by the criteria used to select players by the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) panel which has once again snubbed Guyanese players ahead of the series against Ireland.
“I’m baffled by the selection criteria used by the WICB selectors,” said Mentore, adding that he does not think that a lot of exposure and opportunities are being given to cricketers to compete against the lower=ranked teams.
According to the former Guyana U19 opening batsman, when players make themselves available for Regional tournaments, they play to the best of their abilities but are still overlooked by the selectors. This, he said will eventually discourage the cricketers who he said will then contemplate “choosing different paths.”
The WICB T20 and ODI teams for the upcoming clash against lowly Ireland includes Barbados’ Kirk Edwards who did not play in the just concluded NAGICO Super50 competition because of disciplinary action.
Mentore said that he noted that uncapped 23-year old fast bowler Miguel Cummings was also named in the ODI squad although he too did not play in the NAGICO Super50 competition while Jamaica’s left-arm swing bowler Krishmar Santokie who has not been a part of Jamaica nor the West Indies sides since 2012 was named in the T20 squad. Both bowlers were given the nod ahead of Guyana’s Ronsford Beaton.
Mentore said that Beaton is very deserving of a call up after time and effort has been invested in him via the months spent at the High Performance Centre (HPC) last year and his good showing in this year’s and last year’s Regional tournaments.
“Beaton has been a revelation for Guyana and the WICB has invested a lot with him at the HPC, said Mentore.
”Players such as Assad Fudadin, Leon Johnson and Chris Barnwell are three young players who have been knocking on the West Indies senior team door after representing their country and the West Indies ‘A’ team with poise. They have been further disregarded by the selectors for a tour against an Irish team who were easily beaten by the regional teams in this year’s NAGICO Super50 tournament,” said Mentore.
He slammed the selectors for putting together an unnecessary squad with three wicket-keepers in; Andre Fletcher, Lendl Simmons and Denesh Ramdin and pointed out that with Ramdin’s current form with both bat and glove it’s highly unlikely that the likes of Simmons and Fletcher will be called upon to perform as wicketkeepers.
According to Mentore, the bizarre selections leaves one to think that politics more than the spirit of the game is involved in the choices made by the WICB selectors.
He pointed out that the WICB was willing to try Fletcher for the umpteenth time and said if they are working on recycling players, then the likes of Ramnaresh Sarwan who has hit slight form during this year’s Regional tournament and has maintained outstanding stats over the years, should be given another opportunity to rebuild his career.
Veteran Guyana and West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul who is no longer a part of the limited overs makeup, continues to single-handedly fetch the West Indies team in the Test format and is constantly overlooked for the ODI format despite him going public about his desire to still play limited overs cricket.
Test spinner Permaul who has been a regular face in the West Indies set up over the past year was not named in either the ODI or T20 squads, despite being named in the West Indies preliminary squad for the upcoming World T20 tournament in Bangladesh while Barnwell who took Guyana to the semi-finals of the 2014 Super50 tournament has had a bountiful 2013 scoring runs across all local tournaments including inter-county and Regional cricket, was also named in the preliminary squad for the World T20 tournament but was not given an opportunity to flex his muscles against the Irish.
Speaking about Barnwell, who he said he has watched blossom over the years especially during last year, Mentore said that if Barnwell could have made the 13-man West Indies squad last year and went on to feature in the final playing 11 with Darren Sammy, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Keiron Pollard all fit and playing, it’s very strange that he cannot make a West Indies side when some of those big names are currently injured or now coming back from injuries.
Johnson, who had a tremendous 2013 regionally being one of the top run-getters for his country was also snubbed by the West Indies selectors for the tours of India and New Zealand, despite scoring his maiden first-class ton against Sri Lanka during the ‘A’ team series followed by solid knocks against India, narrowly missing two more centuries. In closing Mentore declared that he is beginning to understand why veteran cricket analyst and commentator Tony Cozier said in one of his recent articles that the WICB is apparently picking players who are failing instead of those who are blossoming.
He said he hopes that the directors on the WICB Board during their selectors’ review meetings will “review, replace and remove” those unworthy of calling themselves selectors of cricket, saying that while not being biased because of choosing players from your country, selectors should feel some sense of patriotism and acknowledge players who deserve call-ups and afford them the opportunity to fail or to produce.
