On the heels of several players opting not to tour Bangladesh, West Indies’ chief selector Roger Harper has expectations of the second string side being competitive.
Harper made the comments during a zoom conference after the Test and One Day International squads were announced yesterday.
According to the chief selector, the squad comprises a lot of talented players who will get the opportunity to show their worth.
“This bunch has a lot of very competitive players and players who will be very keen on displaying their skills and show what they are about and prove that they can compete and perform at this level so I expect that we will have a team to be very competitive and perform in a very competitive manner,” he stated.
Harper admitted that though the squad is relatively young and inexperienced, it provides an opportunity for Cricket West Indies to have a look at what potential is in the pool of players.
He said, “Well it’s an opportunity for us to see how this young bunch of players, a lot of them are very young and as you said a lot of them have very little experience, will acquit themselves in foreign conditions, tough conditions against a home team that knows how to play in those conditions so from that perspective it is a bit of fact finding.”
The former West Indies off-spinner reiterated that their duty is to select the best possible side taking into consideration performances but could not reveal who are the players who may have been axed following their woeful performance in New Zealand.
“When we sit down we want to pick the best squad possible and of course all performances and of course our most recent performances so would there have been changes? There may have been, how many? I wouldn’t be able to disclose at this time but the fact of the matter is players pulled out they have made themselves unavailable for the tour and we picked what we thought would give us the best sort of balance and composition for the sort of conditions we will face and we look forward with great expectation… a sense of excitement to see how these young guys will acquit themselves in Bangladesh and one thing I expect is that they will play with a sense of purpose and passion,” he explained.
Harper contended that Bangladesh is a tough place to tour but reckoned those players in the squad will be eager to show that they belong at the international level and in the process put pressure on some of the “regulars.”
“I think we have a squad here of guys who would be very keen to display their skills, keen to show they belong at this level and I expect them to be very competitive and play with a sense of passion and purpose and I think they could probably be able to put pressure on some of the guys who have been in the team for a while. I think this is a tremendous opportunity for them and for us it gives us an opportunity to see exactly where these guys are and you know maybe surprise us all…” he declared.
