Windies selectors have lost the plot

over 2 years in TT News day

BY BRYAN DAVIS
FROM whatever angle we observe the 2021 WorldCupT20, which is almost completed, West Indies’ non-performance will be the subject occupying the minds and hearts of Caribbean people.
The results are such that blame could be cast everywhere.
The poor efforts of the batsmen are first on the list. Next is the preparation of the team. Then, the selection of the squad was short on imagination and deficient in knowledge.
The players, of course, did not choose themselves; hence the selectors are to blame. The squad ought to have been a balance of experience and youth and not weighted on one side or the other.
And that is what it means to be a good selector. To do these things right and get the best results, one has to have an eye for talent, the ability of a youngster in whom one can see the potential that only needs exposure. Just like the present senior players, who had been chosen in the past because of the vision of selectors of the day.
[caption id="attachment_923286" align="alignnone" width="860"] Australia’s Josh Hazlewood, right, reacts after dismissing West Indies’ Shimron Hetmyer, left, during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup match in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on Saturday. AP Photo -[/caption]
Chris Gayle was a thoughtless selection. He’s 42 years old and has struggled with the bat for one international 50 since 2016. He’s sluggish in the field and while batting, his footwork is too lazy against the spinners, plus his reflexes are too slow for the faster bowlers. He received a medical exemption from CWI because they knew he could not pass a fitness test. He also treated all games in a light-hearted manner.
Lendl Simmons is 37 years old and is past his best, not now but for some time. A selector who knows his cricket will observe that without having to be told.
Andre Russell is lame. A blind man could see that. He has been plagued with physical fitness problems for a long time and it certainly got the better of him this time. He was also injured in the IPL and has been out of the game for a month.
Although he underwent treatment, it would have taken time to repair. During that time he was unable to practise. Hence, to watch him in the practice games against Pakistan and Afghanistan before the tournament began, it wouldn’t have taken a dimwitted trainer to tell that Russell was nowhere near fitness. Furthermore, his batting only ever comes off once in every five innings; he’s never consistent. His bowling is very average. And he was terribly unfit. I’m sure he had a medical exemption.
Kieron Pollard at 34 years old, has not been scoring runs in franchise cricket and never looked at ease in these international games. He’s a main man in this lineup and if he’s not firing, the entire team is affected.
[caption id="attachment_897755" align="alignnone" width="900"] Bryan Davis[/caption]
I feel certain he did not undergo a fitness test before the series but had a medical exemption; additionally, he has been having problems with his fitness throughout the year. He opted out of the Bangladesh tour earlier this year because of the pandemic, but travelled to the Middle East to participate in a T10 tournament. And he’s the captain?
Ravi Rampaul, at 36, is not up to international standard any more and everyone except WI selectors recognised this. No fitness test for him either.
Andre Fletcher can’t get a game and is on the bench at 34 years of age. Why not a youngster in his place?
These ageing cricketers can’t take the pressure of intensive practice, so the sessions are light, which is not ideal preparation. Oshane Thomas is a young fast bowler and is left waiting in the wings at 24, yet Rampaul is playing. To what purpose?
Shimron Hetmyer is giving an interview and his responses are very much as if the West Indies team is just another franchise club and as if he has a contract to play. It’s not at all as if he could be dropped from the team nor as though it is international cricket.
It makes me wonder why he, Nicholas Pooran and Evin Lewis are not playing Test cricket for the West Indies. Rumour has it that they are not interested.
And do the WI selectors accept that? CWI spends money to develop these cricketers from youth and a player can choose when and what format he will play? Is the tail wagging the dog? Are the selectors compartmentalising players? On every team WI opposed, the majority of their players play for their Test team. I fear WI teams are weak because the selectors are.
 
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