NARSINGH Deonarine, the dominant batsman in the West Indies this past season, has again being relegated to the role of towel carrier as he was not selected for either of the two recent one day games against India. Having been selected to the WI team for the 20/20 World Cup in 2007 in S Africa where he was never played, and again in England in the just completed series where he suffered a similar fate, he must be tearing his hair out. Meanwhile the Fletchers, the Marshalls, the Pollards, and the Darren Bravos are fast tracked to the West Indies team with little to recommend any of them by virtue of present or past performance. Young Bravo is unquestionably a talented player but his first class average is merely 32, so why the rush? Deonarine seems doomed to follow in the footsteps of others Mohammed for example, who have been similarly neglected. It is awfully difficult to understand the selection process in West Indies cricket. After all, isn’t performance the one and only yardstick to be used as a prerequisite for selection to the team? And speaking of performance it is equally hard to understand why Benn retains his spot as he has been quite mediocre with bat and ball and is a weak fielder to boot. When given the opportunity Miller has performed well and is a better option, I believe.
Perhaps in the upcoming series against Bangladesh, one of the weaker test teams, some other players might be given an opportunity instead of using the same old formula which is to recycle the same players over and over.
TONY BOODHOO
Ontario, Canada