The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) lambasted Cricket West Indies (CWI) Selection Committee for what it deemed as “totally illogical selection decisions” during the Caribbean side’s home series.
Via a press release, the GCB highlighted numerous areas where it felt the CWI had been administering injustice to its players. “Our franchise has invested heavily in our youths and has created an Academy program whereby the Academy players practice daily with our contracted Franchise players”.
“As a result of these successes, one would have thought that most of our players should have been featuring heavily in the entire CWI representative red ball teams. That is yet to happen”.
“In the past month or so, CWI hosted Sri Lanka in a three- Test series that unfortunately ended in a 1-1 draw at home. For the very first time in a long time, our team won the first Test of a series most convincingly.”
The release further questioned the CWI’s move to have Guyanese Keemo Paul sit out the third Test versus Sri Lanka as well as Shimron Hetmyer, who returned to the side against Bangladesh but failed to start in the XI.
“We strongly feel that had the correct team been selected to represent us in the Third Test of that series, we would have won that series easily by a 2 to nil margin. Keemo Paul was named as a replacement for Shimron Hetmyer and plucked out from a touring team in England to return here in the Caribbean to sit on the bench.
“The GCB held its collective breath and refrained from making a statement in this regard with the hope that these mistakes would have been corrected at the commencement of this Bangladesh series.
“We were heartened when Shimron Hetmyer recovered from his recent illness and was able to participate in the tour match last week where he cracked a brilliant century against the tourists for the CWI President’s XI. Yet still this was not enough to warrant his return to the starting XI in the first Test of this Bangladesh series. Keemo Paul was made to sit out this match again,” stated the release.
Furthermore, the GCB strongly pointed out that it believes it was critical for the Windies to test their bench strength, given the short nature of the series. “We strongly feel that with these short two and three matches Test series now, our bench strength has to be tested regularly, so that our supposedly ‘entrenched’ players are placed on notice that their places are not guaranteed throughout the series.
“Our teams and its players will not develop if players continue to fail and are selected and players who perform well are not selected in the final XI. Our policy in this regard has to be clearly outlined and defined. It is noteworthy that four CWI teams have been selected in the last month or so, and some of our top performers in the [Professional Cricket League] PCL over the years could not find favour with the selectors,” ended the release.
