Dear Editor,
Take nothing away from Kjorn Ottley and Yannic Cariah, they deserve call ups following their superb Super 50 performances. Darren Bravo’s absence was expected due to his poor history in maroon colours. He was given many opportunities in ODIs and Tests, but has been underwhelming for a top order batsman, so Haynes is justified in that regard to favour Ottley and Cariah who deserve their opportunity in maroon colours, their consistency domestically is worthy of selection.
Perhaps he has to do more to prove his worth to be given a final chance to revive his career. Dwayne’s interview on SportsMax with Maria Ramharack was exceptional where he raised several issues, following his remarks on social media and he is correct too.
What are the actual criteria for selection? Because, yes Bravo has a poor record for West Indies, but if he was the top scorer for the most recent Super 50 with an average of 80 thereabouts, and was the winning captain, then what else does he have to do? How has Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich warranted selection for this team? Certainly not Dowrich as a batsman or as a wicketkeeper.
I agree with Dwayne, if we are looking to build for the 2027 World Cup, why don’t we select the best performing players to at least win consecutive series to firstly raise our ranking? To then integrate new players and do the building that the panel wants to do, because we haven’t even qualified.
Fans are also making a big deal of T20 franchise cricket, Dwayne Bravo laid it out perfectly. We are hearing the same song and dance about age, moving in a new direction, looking towards the world cup, and that ain’t going to cut it anymore. If we were to look into South Africa’s racial quota system, that certainly isn’t the model we want to follow in the Caribbean. I recommend a data driven model for batter, bowler, wicketkeeper and fielder, because numbers don’t lie, people do.
Kendell Karan
Chaguanas
Trinidad