The West Indies squad for the October 17-November 13, 2021 ICC T20 World Cup has finally been announced. The squad is as follows:
Kieron Pollard (Captain), Nicholas Pooran (Vice-Captain), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh.
RESERVES – Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein.
Our reaction to the announced squad has been to add our voices to the prevailing clamour of consternation that has been ringing throughout the entire Caribbean Region and the Diaspora since the aforementioned names were revealed by Cricket West Indies Selection Chairman Roger Harper. Not unlike the apparent majority of ardent West Indies’ cricket followers, we have some serious concerns. Not only over some of the very dubious choices that have been made, but also even more importantly in terms of the glaringly apparent inconsistencies surrounding some of the more questionable selections.
In our humble view, the selected squad fails at least three players short of that which could and should have been chosen. The West Indies, after all, will be heading to the UAE not only as participants but also as the reigning champions seeking to defend their title.
Our very first concern would be over the inclusion of the almost 42-years-old Chris Gayle, whose recent form has been abysmal. Averaging 17 from 16 T20 Internationals this year, and recording a single half-century in the last five years, Gayle has also struggled badly in the ongoing CPL, scraping 83 runs from five innings at an average of 16 for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. Moreover, ever since his recall to the squad for this year’s South Africa series there has been no real evidence to support Chief Selector Harper’s contention, in defence of Gayle’s inclusion, that his presence actually “brings value to the team.”
The recall of the 36-year-old fast bowler Ravi Rampaul for his first international match in six years, in preference to the much younger 26-year-old Romario Shepherd, is another choice that can be questioned.
Rampaul, whose previous 23 T20 Internationals have yielded 29 wickets, grabbed the attention of the selectors by taking 17 wickets for the Trinbago Knight Riders in the ongoing CPL.
Shepherd has, however, been just as effective capturing 14 wickets to date. He is also by miles, much more capable than Rampaul as a lower-order batsman, and a far more agile fielder.
With regards to agility, Harper has indicated that Sherfayne Rutherford’s impressive 2021 CPL performances were not considered due to his failure to meet the required fitness standards.
The question to be asked would be as to whether that standard was identical to that required of Rampaul?
Having taken this year’s CPL form into consideration for their inclusion of Ravi Rampaul and Royston Chase into consideration, the selectors appear to have ignored the relatively inferior performances of Oshane Thomas in their choice for the squad’s genuinely quick fast bowler. Chase’s inclusion, earned as it has been on the basis of his superb CPL 2021 form as the leading run-scorer with 281 runs, including three back-to-back half-centuries at an average of 70 and a strike rate of 151, is fully warranted. The same cannot be said about Thomas who in CPL 2021 has to date captured only four wickets at a 34.21 average and 7.21 economy rate.
Chairman Harper’s explanation of Thomas’ inclusion has been that his pace would provide the West Indies with a much-desired shock attack X factor. Thomas’ pace has, however, been a few clicks below that of Odean Smith who has been by far CPL 2021’s fastest bowler. At routine speeds in excess of 145 kph, Smith has to date captured 10 wickets at an ultra-impressive, miserly, 17.90 average and a commendable 7.35 strike rate.
Smith’s 2021 CPL performances have earned him the admiration of no less a person than the West Indies legendary, all-time great fast bowler Sir Andy Roberts, who has suggested that his pace should have made him the Selectors’ automatic choice for the “shock attack X factor” role. To which we would also add that Smith is also a much more capable batsman and a far more agile fielder than the seemingly still somewhat overweight Thomas.
Harper’s indication that Smith, like Rutherford, also failed to meet the required fitness standard and hence was not considered, again begs the question as whether that standard was identical to that requested of either Rampaul or Thomas. Even further, given the obvious value that the inclusion of both Rutherford and Smith would have provided, shouldn’t they both have received the same medical exemption provided to Chris Gayle?
We are also in full agreement with Sir Andy’s expressed disgust at the appalling treatment the selectors have rendered to Jason Holder. Not only omitting him from the final 15 but also adding further insult to injury by naming him as one of the four Reserves!
Holder’s all-round capabilities as a medium pacer, hard hitting batsman, arguably now the world’s very best slip fielder and with his height a fearful presence as a bounder catcher should have merited his place on the final 15. If not, the selectors should have omitted him altogether instead of demeaning him by his inclusion as merely a reserve.
As damning as the selectors treatment of Holder has been, it pales in comparison to the most stupefying and bewildering of all their choices, that of the inclusion of Darren Bravo among the four reserves. Incredibly Chairman Harper in defence of Bravo’s inclusion, and despite his dismal returns in this year’s CPL of a mere 50 runs from four matches played at a paltry 16.66 average, claimed that he was the very best of the available choices. Harper and his selection panel would now appear to be in serious need of some heavy-duty spectacles, as blind as they have obviously been to the far superior comparative statistics of Shamarh Brooks, whose 2021 CPL returns to date have been 185 runs from six innings at an average of 37.
Our final concern over the selectors’ choices would be that of the preference of Sheldon Cottrell over Dominic Drakes among the reserves. As a much younger, left-arm seamer and with an eye towards next year’s Australia hosted T20 World Cup, the 23-year-old Drakes, who has had a fairly impressive 2021 CPL with nine wickets at a 24.55 average and 8.61 economy rate would have been a far wiser choice than the much-older 32-year-old Cottrell, whose 2021 CPL returns have been five wickets at a 26.20 average and 8.18 economy rate.
As the Jamaican cricket journalist Ray Ford has indicated following the announcement of the West Indies 2021 T20 World Cup Squad, and with which we fully agree “Knives for Roger Harper and his hallucinating band of selectors, aren’t yet drawn. But surely, they are being sharpened!”
About The Writers:
Guyana born Reds (Perreira) has served as a world-recognized West Indies Cricket Commentator for well over fifty-years now, having made his debut broadcast during the 1971 West Indies-India Test Series.
Guyana born, Toronto based, Tony McWatt now serves as Canadian Cricket’s Media Relations Manager and as Publisher of Wickets: Canada’s Monthly Online Cricket Magazine. He is also the only son of the former Guyana and West Indies wicket-keeper batsman the late Clifford “Baby Boy” McWatt.
