For those who feel hard done by after being continuously overlooked by the various West Indies selection panels, Romario Shepherd’s story should be instructive and should reinforce belief in themselves and their abilities and decide never, never to give up.
Shepherd announced himself to the cricket world when he slammed his maiden century for the West Indies `A’ team against New Zealand `A’ in December of 2020 in a four-day, first-class match in New Zealand.
Coming in at number nine with the West Indies `A’ team tottering on 112 -7, Shepherd slammed a pugnacious 133, adding 199 runs with Raymon Reifer, who made 65.
Last year, shortly after being overlooked by the West Indies selectors for the T20 World Cup tournament, the Guyanese almost single handely dumped the Jamaica Tallawahs out of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) tournament.
First he blasted the Tallawahs bowlers for 72 runs from a mere 31 balls and for good measure, he returned with ball in hand to snatch 3-31 as Guyana eliminated the Jamaicans from a semi-final spot.
Last month Shepherd combined with Odean Smith to rescue a West Indies side that was reduced to 111-8 by Ireland in the second One Day International match at Sabina Park and post a competitive 230 score with Shepherd getting a half century.
Then late last month Shepherd and Akeal Hosein almost secured a miraculous victory for the West Indies against England in the second T20 International.
Chasing 172, Shepherd and Hosein produced a barrage of sixes that almost brought the West Indies victory from the jaws of defeat scoring 29 of the 30 runs needed for victory in a mere six balls, the two featuring in a 72-run partnership.
Yet despite his heroics and his obvious talent with bat and ball, Shepherd had to watch while the West Indies lost their One-Day series against India 0-3. He did not feature in a single game not even selected after India had already won the first two ODIs.
One would have thought that a one-day West Indies team that can’t reach a 200-run total because of the constant failure of their top-order batsmen, would have relished the thought of selecting a lower-order batsman who can bat as well as bowl but obviously not the West Indies selectors.
Perhaps he was injured but if he wasn’t, Shepherd must have been wondering what more he needs to do to convince the selectors that he’s the real deal and that he can help them as he has done so often before.
Or what about Nkrumah Bonner who also did not play a match and could only watch as Darren Bravo failed miserably again and again and again.
After he was selected for the tour of India, Bonner was given a ringing endorsement by new chairman of the West Indies selection panel, the honourable Desmond Haynes.
“Over the last few years, Nkrumah Bonner’s cricket has come on leaps and bounds and we believe he should be given an opportunity to play in the 50-over format,” said Haynes.
Yeah! Right!
It has been a similar theme with deserving players such as Jason Holder, who recently took four wickets in four-balls in a T20 International.
Holder was not even selected on the West Indies T20 World Cup team, for reasons that simply cannot be merit related.
Bonner, Holder, Shepherd and company must surely be confused by the West Indies selection policies.
But while the West Indies selectors have been ambivalent towards Shepherd, the selectors of the Sunrisers Hyderabad have been clear about the talents of the Guyanese all-rounder. In a bidding war at this year’s IPL Auction, Shepherd was snapped up by the Sunrisers Hyderbad for US$1.03m to play in this year’s IPL.
For Shepherd, selection on the West Indies representative teams might be a bit of a nightmare but for the IPL, it was a dream come true.
“It’s a great platform for any youngster. Many people dream to go to the IPL and I’m no different. It’s something that I’ve dreamed about for a very long time. My name was in the draft for the last three years so this year I’m definitely looking forward to it,” he had said prior to the draft.
So for those cricketers in the region who are disillusioned and might be tempted to leave the sport because the selectors just aren’t looking their way, Romario Shepherd and to a lesser extent Sherfane Rutherford’s IPL’s selections, just might be worth all the disappointment they might feel over raw deal selections.
