Listening to Cricket West Indies chairman of selectors Roger Harper on the rationalization of the selection of the West Indies 15 member T-20 squad for next month’s World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and Oman was quite puzzling. By now, we are familiar with the squad to be led by Kieron Pollard and his second-in-command Nicholas Pooran
The first piece of the puzzle served up by Roger Harper and company was the naming of leading all-rounder in the Caribbean and in the world in all three formats of the game Jason Holder in the reserve contingent rather than first call 15-man squad. Holder, in my opinion, has been reduced to a fringe player rather than the quality player he is. What a shame and disrespect.
Another blunder by Harper and his panel is the non-selection of left-handed batsman Sherfane Rutherford and all-rounders Odean Smith and Romario Shepherd who have all done well in the 2021 version of the CPL T20 tournament. Harper’s explanation for the exclusion of both Rutherford and Smith is that they failed fitness tests and Shepherd was just not considered. The questions Harper and his panel must address are when were these tests administered and is the CPL T20 competition the final dress rehearsal for the players bidding for World Cup selection. Rutherford and Smith showed no signs of being unfit throughout the CPL tournament and always gave one hundred percent effort. I think some attention should be paid to the fitness of selectee Shimron Hetmyer, the Guyanese left-handed batting star who seems to be carrying a bit too much weight around the waist area as the regional team seeks to defend the T20 World Cup title.
The second piece of the puzzle served up by Harper and his men is the selection of veteran opening bat Chris Gayle. I held my judgement on 41-year-old Gayle until the CPL started, even though he failed to deliver consistently in the previous home series. Gayle is one of a kind and is regarded as one of the ‘Greats’ in this format of the game but, father time has since crept in therefore Gayle should not have been on that plane to the UAE / Oman. Gayle was also granted an exemption from the fitness test.
There was no enterprise, vision nor boldness in the selections of this T20 World Cup squad and the reserves.
Astil’s T20 World Cup Team
My 15-man squad and the reserves are as follows: Kieron Pollard (captain), Nicholas Pooran (vice-captain), Evin Lewis, Kennar Lewis (a surprise factor), Dwayne Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer, Fabian Allen, Roston Chase, Lendl Simmons, Jason Holder, Obed Mc Coy, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Odean Smith, Romario Shepherd.
Reserves Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Akeal Hosein, Chandrapaul Hemraj.
Greetings, Mr. Renn. If I may, I’d like to point out that according to the ICC rankings at this moment, Jason Holder is only ranked #1 in Tests. That being said, I must also state that I have SERIOUS reservations about these rankings and how they are derived, given that in their ALL-TIME Test rankings, a certain B.C. Lara, neither Sachin Tendulkar, are in the top 20.