Following the West Indies’ horrendous showing at the recent T20 World Cup it is evident now more than ever that the selection policy of Cricket West Indies needs to be more robust.
West Indies, the only team to win the illustrious title twice, were booted in the first round and will now have to play the qualifiers for the 2022 T20 World Cup owing to their current International Cricket Council ranking of 10th.
When the squad was announced for the tournament chairman of selectors, Roger Harper, Head Coach Phil Simmons and captain Kieron Pollard were bombarded with questions on the rationale behind some of the selections.
Judging from the unusual selections and performances there have been calls from several quarters for the sacking of the trio.
However, one must first understand the mechanism that is available to the selection panel in order to fully dissect the pros and cons of this tool.
According to the selection policy document on Cricket West Indies’ (CWI) website, there are six key criterias for selection i.e., form and performance, fitness, team balance, mental capacity, ability and commitment.
The document lists form and performance as the core for selection which is guided by recent statistics in “international, regional tournaments, or other recognized tournaments” while under the fitness criteria it states, “For consistent optimum performances of cricketers, fitness is critical. Given this fact, there should be a minimum fitness standard to qualify for selection. Such standards would be provided by the fitness and conditioning policy. Thus, the selection panels should adhere to this policy. Exceptional circumstances require the approval of the DoC [Director of Cricket].”
As it relates to team balance, the document details this to mean the composition of the team to reflect the successful brand of cricket of choice with that brand being determined by the DoC, executive selector, and head coach and when the captain is selected, he/she could be consulted.
Metal capacity refers to the players’ match awareness, self-discipline and self-motivation while ability refers to a player who is considered a developmental player.
This player’s performance is judged “over a period of matches or a single performance.”
Commitment denotes a player’s availability to play for West Indies.
If one was to dissect some of the selection choices of recent times with the justifications given, it leaves a lot of room for speculation. At the fore of this debacle is the selection of Chris Gayle. The 42-year-old Jamaican, while considered one of the greats of T20 cricket, is evidently not the player he was a decade ago.
Gayle, at this year’s World Cup, scored 45 runs from five innings at a woeful average of nine and a strike rate of just 91.
This statistic, added with his other 16 matches this year, sees him scoring 272 runs from 21 outings at a strike rate of 112.
In the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), he did not do much better scoring 165 runs from nine innings at a strike rate of 128.9. The selection of Darren Bravo among the reserves is even more mystifying after he scored a paltry 98 runs from seven innings, in this year’s CPL, undoubtedly his worst.
Sherfane Rutherford (262 runs) outscored his St. Kitts and Nevis Patriot teammate Gayle as well as Bravo and so did Chandrapaul Hemraj (254), Shamarh Brooks (216), Johnson Charles (214) and Brandon King (189).
Another example of discrepancies in selection was that of Oshane Thomas whose performance in the CPL was not encouraging. He picked up six wickets from seven matches at an economy rate of 7.39.
In that tournament, 26-year-old Romario Shepherd ended as the second highest wicket taker with 18 wickets along with impressive batting displays. Another player with similar attributes was Dominic Drakes who had an inspiring all-round tournament including a player of the final showing.
Meanwhile, former Captain Jason Holder seemed to have established himself as one of the better T20 all-rounders globally, given his performances in the Indian Premier League and CPL but surprisingly was named in the reserves.
However, despite not being good enough to be in the main squad, he found himself in the playing XI ahead of Thomas who did not feature.
As it relates to fitness, back in September, the Jamaican Gayle received a medical exemption even as Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams and Harper had stated that the minimum fitness standard was non-negotiable.
The same exemption was applied to Ravi Rampaul (37 years) and in the past Fidel Edwards (39 years) who both appeared for West Indies after considerable years out of international cricket.
But what seems to baffle fans as to why does this exemption exist and does it apply evenly given the likes of Sunil Narine, Odean Smith and Rutherford have all found themselves out of contention because of fitness issues. Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase have also faced similar reasonings for their exclusions.
Aren’t the workloads the same? Is it the same strain on the body when playing? Isn’t it the same series they have to play? Is it a medically exempted player is fitter than a player who may have not reached the minimum standard but wasn’t far off? Is the medical exemption a transparent mechanism? Is there a way a player can challenge selection?
With Gayle, Harper said he brings value to the team and stats were not all that was considered but his immense value.
Is this value worth a space in the squad? Why not use him as a mentor similar to India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni?
Are the selectors saying Ravi Rampaul at 37 years is fitter and has the ability to have more impactful results for West Indies than Shepherd who is more than 10 years his junior?
CWI needs to sort out their selection policy and have it applied equally across the board. Should the standard be 40 on the yo-yo test, then no justification should be accepted for failing to meet these standards.
In fact, CWI should enforce a strict policy on fitness so that when players perform, they should not be overlooked based on fitness.
It is evident that should the selectors and company be sacked; the same loopholes would be there for the next panel.
