KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Former West Indies wicketkeeper-batsman Jeffrey Dujon has lashed out at the inexperienced squad that has been sent on the Tour of Australia for a series of two-Tests against the current world champions.
Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite is one of only five members of the 15-member squad returning to Australia for the second men’s Test tour in a little under a year.
The others are long-standing pacer Kemar Roach, fellow fast bowler and vice-captain Alzarri Joseph, wicketkeeper-batsman Joshua Da Silva and opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul – the son of former West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul – who impressed in his maiden series last year.
Two notable absentees are compatriot all-rounders Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers, both of whom have preferred to play in franchise Twenty20 leagues during the period of the two Tests, while emerging fast bowler Jayden Seales is sidelined because of a shoulder injury.
Seven of the travelling 15 are uncapped at Test level – opener Zachary McCaskie, wicketkeeper-batsman Tevin Imlach, all-rounders Justin Greaves, Kavem Hodge, and Kevin Sinclair, plus pacers Akeem Jordan and Shamar Joseph.
“It’s a bit of an embarrassment because Australia doesn’t suffer from the same situation as us,” Dujon said in an interview with the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper.
“Maybe their players are more patriotic, but this is like sending lambs to the slaughter. It would have been better if we had sent a young team like this to play a weaker nation, but I don’t think there’s a whole lot to be gained sending a team with seven debutants against a team so experienced, established and powerful.”
Also missing from the squad that were Down Under last year and endured heavy losses in Perth and Adelaide are then vice-captain Jermaine Blackwood, fellow batsmen Nkrumah Bonner and Shamarh Brooks, compatriot all-rounders Roston Chase and Raymon Reifer, pacer Anderson Phillip, and suspended wicketkeeper-batsman Devon Thomas.
Head coach Andre Coley said the inclusion of untried talent coupled with the challenge posed by the world’s top-ranked Test outfit on their home turf can bring the best out of his unheralded squad.
“At the moment, we have a number of white-ball franchise tournaments that are happening at around the same time, we have a couple of injuries as well so when you put all of that together it will have impacted some of the selection,” Coley said in an interview with the Cricket Australia website.
“But with that said, it does not take away from the fact the players who are here on tour actually merit their selection, so it’s an opportunity for the players that are here to express themselves and play against a team who won the last (World) Test Championship. It’s a wonderful opportunity for everyone.”
Dujon did not share the sentiments of his fellow former Jamaica wicketkeeper-batsman, and he agreed with former Australia captain Steve Waugh, who met the announcement of the inexperienced West Indies squad with derision.
Waugh urged the sport’s world body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), to intervene because the threat of the sport’s longest format going extinct has never been more real T20 leagues pop up around the world along with the pending threat of the lucrative Indian Premier League going global and contracting players year-round.
“It’s pretty obvious what the problem is,” he said. “The West Indies aren’t sending their full-strength side [to Austalia this summer]. They haven’t picked a full-strength Test team for a couple of years now.
“Someone like Nicholas Pooran is really a Test batsman who doesn’t play Test cricket. Jason Holder, probably their best player, is not playing now. Even Pakistan didn’t send a full side [to Australia].
“If the ICC or someone doesn’t step in shortly then Test cricket doesn’t become Test cricket because you’re not testing yourself against the best players.”
Dujon supported Waugh’s view that T20 riches will continue to erode the long form of the sport until nothing was left unless something was done.
“Cricket can’t improve unless you have your best players playing,” Dujon said. “However, it’s not a situation that’s easily solved, and Steve Waugh is right, this is signalling the doom of Test cricket because the boards don’t have enough control over the players, and they (players) can dictate when and where they want to play.”
The last Test win for West Indies in Australia came 27 years ago at the WACA in Perth during their last series victory Down Under when they won 2-1.
West Indies’ first Test against Australia starts on January 17 in Adelaide, followed by the second Test at The Gabba beginning on January 25. The last time West Indies won a Test series in Australia was in 1992/93 when they won 2-1.
The first Test of the pending series starts on January 17 in Adelaide, followed by the second Test in Brisbane beginning on January 25 and form part of the 2023-25 round of the World Test Championship.
