West Indies Selectors confused (11 March 1999)

11 March 1999

West Indies Selectors confused

Tony Cozier in Bridgetown

The state of mental confusion that overcame the West Indies batsmen as they collapsed to their all-out 51 against Australia in the First Test on Monday has extended to their flustered administrators. The two teams flew yesterday morning from Port of Spain to Kingston, venue for the Second Test starting Saturday, less than an hour after the West Indies selectors finally confirmed who they had picked and who would be travelling.

On Tuesday, television and radio stations in the region carried 13 names that had been leaked by some unnamed source. The Express carried it in its edition yesterday. Curtly Ambrose, reportedly suffering from a back injury and heading for New York for specialist treatment, was not among them. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, said to be fit again after missing the First Test with a damaged shoulder, was.

The official, belated version-and, of course, yesterday's NATION-had it in reverse. The 35-year-old Ambrose was among the 13, Chanderpaul wasn't.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) statement revealed that Chanderpaul "has not fully recovered from his shoulder injury". While it made no mention of Ambrose's state of health, it is known that, while the others practised, he was at the Mount Hope Medical Centre in Trinidad on Tuesday, having his inflamed knee treated and ultimately passed fit enough to play on Saturday.

In the meantime, the selectors finally gave up efforts to have the experienced and invaluable Carl Hooper return in time from Adelaide where he has been since the end of the South African tour a month ago with his Australian wife and their seriously ill new-born son.

The infant's condition has improved and Hooper said he is awaiting a report from the doctor tomorrow before deciding on whether-and when-he will be able to come back. The Board said it expected both Chanderpaul and Hooper to be "available for selection" for the Third Test in Barbados March 26-30.

Hooper's case has already created intense debate over whether he should or should not be accommodated but, then again, Hooper only has to caress a late cut or snare a slip catch to stir emotions.

In the present circumstances, he is badly missed and would first aim to be back by March 20 for the West Indies "A" four-day match against the Australians in Antigua, getting in some match practice Chanderpaul, along with Lara and Hooper the only genuine Test batsmen in the team, would have taken the place of Roland Holder who strained ligaments in his left ankle in the First Test.

Instead, 20-year-old Daren Ganga, who played three Tests in the ill-fated "whitewash" series in South Africa, has been recalled. Either he or Lincoln Roberts, the tall right-hander who was in the 15 for the First Test, would bat at No.6. If Roberts does, he will become the first player from Tobago to play Test cricket.

Confirming Tuesday's speculation, Nehemiah Perry, the tall, 30-year-old Jamaican off-spinner, is included.

Like all West Indian spinners, his has been a patient wait and, after 13 seasons of regional cricket, he is likely to make his Test debut on his home patch of Sabina Park. Since the square was relaid following last year's unique abandonment after an hour of the First Test against England, when it was deemed a threat to the batsmen's lives, it has favoured spin.

Perry took 10 of his 30 Busta Cup wickets in the first match at Sabina this season, against the Leewards. Mahendra Nagamootoo, the Guyana leg-spinner, and Mukesh Prasad, the Trinidad & Tobago off-spinner, also had 10-wicket match returns there, encouraging statistics for Australia's two dangerous leg-spinners, Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill, who were not even required in Monday's West Indies' disintegration.

Perry is also a capable lower-order batsman who might even get into double-figures in a Test against Australia, a distinct advantage at present.

Merv Dillon is the fast bowler to make way for Perry. It is another summary dismissal for the enthusiastic Trinidad and Tobago quickie who has never had more than two successive Tests since his first against India in Port of Spain two years ago. He was used as a stock bowler in the First Test and was not shown to best advantage.

Phil Simmons and Corey Collymore are two others from the First Test 15 whose services are not required this time. Fast bowler Collymore's surely will be sooner rather than later and Simmons is never gone for long.

While speculation was rife over the composition of the Test team, the provisional West Indies 19 for the World Cup was first published on the Cricinfo site on the Internet. It had been submitted to the organising committee by the WICB since last week with the request that it not be released.

The reason was plain to see. The composition is an embarrassment, verification of the lack of vision and enterprise that has helped lead to the present plight of West Indies cricket.

Eleven of the 19 will be over 30 when the tournament starts on May 16, making it the oldest of the 12 squads, even older than England's.

At least half-dozen are sub-standard fielders, or worse. The few bright, ambitious young men available-Collymore, Roberts, Pedro Collins, Ricardo Powell, Adrian Griffith, for instance-have been ignored and Philo Wallace, the outstanding batsman in the most recent world tournament less than six months ago and still under 30, is discarded.

Instead, there are too many crocks who have no business in a form of the game that demands speed, mobility and athleticism. It is a disgrace.

No captain has been named since Brian Lara is still on the two-match probation in the current Test series and it is impossible to tell what his status will be come May. But the same holds true for everyone in West Indies cricket these days, from president, to selectors, to players. The Australians? They don't have a care in the world. Amidst all the conjecture and chaos, they went deep-sea fishing on Tuesday.

Test 13: Brian Lara (Capt.), Sherwin Campbell, Suruj Ragoonath, Daren Ganga, Dave Joseph, Lincoln Roberts, Jimmy Adams, Ridley Jacobs, Nehemiah Perry, Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Reon King, Pedro Collins.

World Cup squad: Brian Lara (Capt.), Carl Hooper, Keith Arthurton, Ridley Jacobs, Rawl Lewis, Jimmy Adams, Courtney Walsh, Suruj Ragoonath, Stuart Williams, Junior Murray, Mervyn Dillon, Curtly Ambrose, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Reon King, Neil McGarrell, Dave Joseph, Henderson Bryan, Clayton Lambert, Phil Simmons.

Source :: The Trinidad Express (https://www.trinidad.net/express/)