da fezbet： Whoever is chosen to do it and there have just been more sweepingchanges in the panel selecting a Barbados cricket team these days mustbe a frustrating business
Tony Cozier23-Sep-2001Whoever is chosen to do it and there have just been more sweepingchanges in the panel selecting a Barbados cricket team these days mustbe a frustrating business.Successive chairmen Charlie Griffith, Desmond Haynes (albeit briefly)and now Richard Edwards and their colleagues have sat down, ponderedand come up with several of the same players who, like certaincalypsonians at the Stadium, seem to have become shareholders in theteam.The reason is simple and worrying. Especially among the batsmen, thereare no obvious alternatives to the incumbents and the upshot is a lackof the competitive edge so essential to prevent complacency.Sherwin Campbell, Philo Wallace, Adrian Griffith and Floyd Reifer haveagain been predictably picked for the imminent Red Stripe Bowl, theirplaces unchallenged in spite of recent records that, in othercircumstances, would have seen their places go to keen, talentedyoungsters.Their returns over the past two seasons are revealing. Wallaceaverages 31.20 in the Busta Cup in that period and 16.71 in the Bowl,Campbell 25.91 in the Cup, 30 in the Bowl; Griffith 24.7 and 18.71;Reifer 22.13 and 31.75.They must all know that these figures are just not good enough. Theyneed to be told as much as they head off for Guyana next weekend andput on notice that their future as Barbados players depends on theirperformances in the tournament.It is up to them to raise their game and ensure that Barbados managesmore than its average 50-overs total of 205 over the past three Bowls.They are responsible for avoiding another numbing embarrassment, suchas the loss to the United States when they were bowled out for 129, asthey incredibly were last year.They are four experienced batsmen who have represented the West Indiesin Tests and One-day Internationals. In their late 20s or early 30s,they are far from past it. Barbados has a right to expect more.There is some encouragement in the inclusion of four newer, youngerplayers, the batsmen Dale Richards and Kurt Wilkinson, the tall leftarm spinner Sulieman Benn and the powerfully-built Ryan Nurse.Richards, 25, is back after injury kept him out of last season’s BustaCup following an encouraging entry into the team against South AfricaA and in the Bowl.Like Richards, Wilkinson, 20, had his first match for Barbados a yearago against the South Africans and confirmed his potential for WestIndies B in the subsequent Busta Cup.His medium-pace bowling and sharp fielding enhance his value,especially in the shorter form of the game, and he should be acertainty in the final XI in Guyana.Benn, 20, is the natural successor to Winston Reid who spun andtricked out so many batsmen during his long career.Benn’s 26 Busta Cup wickets last season were for West Indies B. Thosein future will be for Barbados and, possibly, the West Indies for thepotential is clearly there.Nurse, a left-handed batsman and bowler of lively pace, seems to beone of those gifted athletes to whom any sport comes easily.He is a footballer and age-group track and field gold medallist butcricket represents his more meaningful future.An innings of 20 and seven overs in Thursday’s trial match were hardlyenough to make a judgement but my immediate impression was of anatural cricketer with the right basics.The well-established Ryan Hinds, the classy left-handed all-rounder,is the third 20-year-old among the 14.His credentials as a future West Indies player have been long sinceobvious. After three years in the Barbados team, selection for WestIndies A and a glowing report from the Shell Academy, he has arrivedat the defining period of his career.The coming six months, in Bowl and Busta, are likely to determine howfar he goes.Outside of the chosen 14, there were few other genuine contenders forEdwards and his wise men to consider, and certainly not among thebatsmen.As a cursory glance at the current Division 1 averages indicate,Barbados’ batting, once the strongest in the Caribbean and, some wouldsay without hyperbole, the world, remains at a low ebb.Richards and Hinds duly appear high in the list but, in the firstseason in which pitches have been covered, the leading batsmen aroundthem have been around for ages Leslie Reifer, Wallace, Ron Bates,Barry Callender, Thelston Payne, Rommel Brathwaite, Livy Puckerin.The truth is that, at a time when a host of quality young batsmen haveemerged from the other territories, Barbados’ cupboard remains almostbare.There are a host of reasons for this and they will surely be addressedin the Barbados Cricket Association’s long-awaited development plan,to be presented to the public this week.If they are not, the old familiar faces will be around in the team forseveral years to come.