Sports
Jonathan Ramnanansingh
CONSISTENT performances in the West Indies Four-Day Championship serve as a pre-requisite for possible selection to the regional Test team for upcoming tours.
So says Cricket West Indies (CWI) lead selector Dr Desmond Haynes, who affirmed that once players prove their worth in domestic competition, their chances for potential selection to the senior team increase.
Haynes was speaking during Tuesday’s media briefing following his panel’s announcement of the West Indies team for the upcoming three-match Test series against England.
The former cricketer highlighted the four-day performances of Bajan Test captain Kraigg Braithwaite, Jamaican John Campbell, and TT pacer Anderson Phillip; who all starred for their respective teams during the opening two rounds of competition.
Against Jamaica Scorpions, Braithwaite’s impressive first innings knock of 276 played a key role in affirming a ten-wicket win for Barbados Pride. And although he came out on the losing end of this encounter, Campbell’s first innings’ century (126) also aided his Test pick.
Similarly, in the TT Red Force’s two victories, Phillip took 5/82 against Jamaica in a three-wicket win and then bagged 4/32 (first innings) and 3/31 (second innings) against the Windward Islands in a dominant innings-and-43-run victory.
Haynes said good performances domestically augur well for future West Indies selection.
“This is the message we are sending to the batting because we need to get our batting right not only in the Test format but in the 50 over games and T20. This is the only level of competition that we’ve got. It’s a bit unfortunate that we never really got a few more games in.
“We want when they’re playing in our domestic season, people question how strong it is. But the mere fact that they’re playing it and doing well, yes, they would be up for selection.
“It’s important when playing in the domestic seasons to catch our (selectors) eyes. We’re a new panel, Ramnaresh Sarwan and myself. We want to see the players and want to make sure that we’re judging them on their ability and that they can play the role we want them to play,” said Haynes.
He added that Tony Gray and Sarwan were in Trinidad observing the players during their two opening matches while he was in Barbados for the clash between the hosts and Jamaica.
Campbell’s performance thus far in the four-day tourney may have also bumped Jeremy Solozano down the pecking order.
Solozano made his Test debut for West Indies against Sri Lanka in November but was ruled out in the first Test after he was struck with a ball on the grill of his helmet. He did not make the Test team this time around.
However, Solozano was added to CWI’s President’s XI team for a match against England at Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua, from March 1-4.
Haynes defended Solozano’s omission from the Test team.
“We stuck with Campbell, not only because he got the 100, but talking to the captain (Braithwaite) and batting with Campbell in the games he has played, we had a bit of success there. It’s a bit unfortunate for Jeremy. We put him in the president’s XI game so the selectors will have another look at him,” Haynes added.
Additionally, the CWI lead selector said pacer Shannon Gabriel was ruled out of the tour since he continues to recover from a hamstring injury sustained during the Red Force’s opening four-day match against the Windward Islands.
“We were told by the medical panel that he’s having a little problem with his hamstring and would not be fit for selection. Shannon did very well against England on their last tour here. He’s probably our fastest bowler but we’re hoping to get him fit so he can be on the park,” said Haynes.
He also hinted that WI T20 vice-captain Nicholas Pooran may soon feature once more for the red ball team in the near future. Haynes said he held fruitful conversations with the wicketkeeper/batsman and a return to the red ball set-up seems imminent.
“I want to be able to say in the West Indies we have cricketers who can play all formats. When the (WI) team was here I had a conversation with Nicholas Pooran saying to him I believe that if he can make himself available to play red-ball cricket that it would help his batting a lot.
“He did acknowledge the brief conversation but I did indicate to him that it would be a good thing for him going forward,” he closed.
