KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Former national captains and West Indies batsmen Robert Samuels and Wavell Hinds have been appointed to separate national selection panels by the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA).
In a media release, the Lyndel Wright-led JCA said the new NSPs were appointed by the executive members.
Samuels, who played in six Tests and eight One-day Internationals from 1996 to 1997, was appointed to the senior NSP, where he will work alongside newly-appointed chairman Courtney Daley, and former national opening partner Delroy Morgan.
The new senior NSP comes into office at a time, when the national team has just completed its fourth season as regional first-class champions.
They however, will face the challenge of the previous NSP of finding the right combination to make the senior national team far more competitive in the One-day and Twenty20 formats of the games.
Hinds, who played 45 Tests and 114 ODIs, will be chairman of the Under-19 NSP and will be assisted by former national batsman Cleveland Davidson and assistant national coach Junior Bennett, as well as Epharaim McLeod and Burtram Barnes.
Hinds and company will have to find a way to get the Under-19s back on track, after they finished fourth last year in the TCL Group Under-19 three-day championship, and second in the One-day competition.
Former national Under-19 spinner Orville Pennant has been placed on the Under-15 NSP, whose new chairman is Baron Watson, with the other members being Grantley Reid, John Gordon, and Richard Walters.
The Under-15 NSP has the easiest task of the three panels, as the national team finished in a three-way tie on points in the WICB Regional Under-15 championship last year, and were only placed second on net run-rate.