WI selectors continue to bungle our best potential and talent

Dear Editor,
SPORT is a business, our young sportsmen and women participation in sport demand full-time training and total dedication for them to master the skills and develop as genuine professionals.

Genuine professionals must be nurtured and cajoled from very young to achieve greatness. Hence, it is imperative that the clubs, national associations and the people and government must support them as our pride.

It is indeed heartening to see that two ‘Heads of State’, Guyana’s President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, and Barbados’s Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, are openly calling with other imminent personalities around the world on the West Indies selectors to justify their selection of the West Indies team to defend the upcoming Cricket World Cup title. The Caribbean people must demand that the criteria for selection of the 15 players and four travelling reserves must be made public.

The inclusion of Chris Gayle is highly questionable. This player ran away from West Indies cricket to play franchise cricket for money. He had run-ins with the West Indies Cricket Administration and was involved in negative public disputes with a former West Indies test captain. Gayle is undoubtedly a ‘pride’ player, a cricketer who has achieved greatness but he should make way for our younger players. There are many former players such as Vivian Richards, Michael Holding and Garner who gave way for younger players when they were at their peak of the game. Ravi Rampaul is also over the ‘hill’ and he should not be in the team before some younger players.

The selectors must justify the selection of Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell and the world number one all-rounder, Jason Holder, is not included in the original 15. It is also interesting to note that the wild Oshane Thomas and Obed McCoy will be partnering Rampaul as the quick bowlers on the dry United Arab Emirates wickets.

The West Indies only player on tour but as a reserve who is recognised as a world class player is Holder. None of our batsmen or bowlers are among the top players in the world. The West Indies team is in Group One, along with England, Australia and South Africa and in the play-off only two teams in the respective groupings will move forward. This will be a highly competitive World Cup.

‘Remember the name’, Carlos Braithwaite’, a young all-rounder who out of the blues hit four consecutive sixes to enable the West Indies to win the last World Cup. Today is the young Turks such as the tried and proven Romario Sheperd, Sherfane Rutherford along with the world rated all-rounder, Jason Holder, who can make a difference and defend the T/20 World Cup title. It will be a total disaster for West Indies cricket and much stress and strain for the over five million people in the Caribbean and the millions of supporters in the diaspora if the West Indies fail to reach the semi-finals.

Yours sincerely,
Neil Kumar,

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp
All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.