Sport – Good luck to weak Windies

It is not an easy job to be a selector especially in the game of cricket! It is challenging to the extreme as there are so many difficult propositions that one has to encounter with many decisions that interact with the team.

For instance, the balance needed for the conditions expected, pace or spinners, left or right arm bowlers, number of all-rounders, a top-class wicket keeper whose batting does not matter or a top-class batsman that can hold his own behind the stumps; batting order and specialist opening batsmen or make-shift openers. The strength of the opposition must also be taken into account.

There are so many points that the selector must consider that it is important he has a vast knowledge of the game and its players e.g. the batsman who can’t play a particular type of bowling or the bowler that crumbles easily under pressure. The selector must be imaginative, have a sense of the psychological, ought to possess empathy and most of all have a winning mentality.

Sometimes an exceptional fieldsman is a bonus as the runs he saves in the field or the ‘impossible’ catch he’s capable of taking defines his value as to runs scored or wickets taken!

Most importantly the selector must have the ability to spot talent in an individual and be able to identify temperament as to whether the cricketer is a ‘big-occasion’ player or one who ‘tenses up’ in tight situations. All these attributes can be seen by observing players and their demeanour in lesser games before choosing them at the higher level.

As a selector one must also observe carefully, so they can perceive whether the cricketer is passionate in the game and happy playing it. Positive results follow these characteristics.

He (the selector) must be aware of the timing in choosing youngsters to move on to a higher level so as not to keep him down too long; or keep him back for a longer time than is necessary.  Diverse players require different approaches.

Selectors should never choose on scores only. There are so many unforeseen circumstances that must be accounted for in a game. To spot the talent is to know who’s capable of carrying on and those that are not going to make it.

This does not mean that the selector is going to be right 100 per cent of the time. However, he has to reduce the risk percentage in favour of the team he’s choosing for he wants to win by all means!

This brings me to the West Indies selectors. They are lacking most of the attributes listed above! Let’s have a look at their choices for the three Test series against Sri Lanka that starts Wednesday, June 6.

Batting weak, bowling no depth

The selectors are Courtney Browne (Barbados), chairman; Eldine Baptiste (Antigua); Travis Dowlin (Guyana); and Lockhart Sebastien (Dominica).

They have decided to resurrect Devon Smith to open the batting. Smith, a Grenadian and a fine batsman, showed lots of promise as a youngster and was given many opportunities to prove his worth in the tough arena of Test cricket, yet he was not up to it although he kept scoring liberally in regional first-class cricket.

Smith, who will be 37 in October, is of no use to West Indies cricket at this stage.  He has played in 38 Tests and has scored six fifties and one hundred, and just what is Smith going to do different now at his age to make him a success? And for how long?

If there was a case for Smith then surely a better selection would have been for Denesh Ramdin before either Shane Dowrich or Jahmar Hamilton, both of whom are far below the wicket-keeping ability of the Trinidadian. And while Dowrich’s batting can improve, it’s a risk to play him and allow vital chances to go a-begging behind the stumps.

Nonetheless in a group of 13, two wicket-keepers are chosen. This does not make sense!  It’s like saying ‘We have no confidence in the keepers so let’s pick two in case one flops!’

In the final analysis who are the two players to be left out of the 13 for the first Test at the Queen’s Park Oval? Let’s see!

There are three opening batsmen in Kraigg Brathwaite, Devon Smith and Kieran Powell. Of course only two can play so maybe it will be the first two mentioned.  Powell is younger than Smith and has further to go but I can’t believe these selectors would choose a 37 year old to make him 12th man!

One of the keepers, logically speaking, would be left out and Dowrich being the more experienced would get the nod, so Hamilton would carry the drinks with Powell. Thus the team would be in batting order: Brathwaite, Smith, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Dowrich, Jason Holder, Kemar Roach, Devendra Bishoo, Miguel Cummins and Shannon Gabriel.

The batting is weak and the bowling has no depth. Good luck, weak Windies!  You’ll need it!