Tony Becca
From way back in 1976, I, like many others, started calling for a selector to travel with the West Indies team.
From back in the 1980s, I, like many others, started calling for the regional selectors to attend regional matches, and a few years ago when Clive Lloyd was being touted as the chairman of the selection committee, I, like many others, said no way.
The reason, as far I was concerned, for the first call was that, in the absence of television coverage, the selectors knew nothing but the mere statistics of the players' performance. They used to call me after every tour asking questions about a particular player.
The reason for the second call was that for them to do a good job - for them to properly assess a cricketer before selecting him, unless they are prepared to select a cricketer based only on the number of runs scored and wickets taken regardless of, for example, the number of catches given and the number of long hops bowled, they had to see the players in action as often as possible.
And the reason for the third call, was that I did not see how Lloyd could live in England and select the players when he did not see them in action during the domestic competitions.
Regional selector
It was as simple as that, and, despite some mistakes, in my opinion, here and there, I still believed, up to a few days ago, that a selector should travel with the West Indies team, that the regional selectors should travel around the islands to see the players in action, and that although he played for the West Indies while living in England, Lloyd, in spite of his greatness and his knowledge of the game, should not be a selector as long as he lives outside the region.
The reason why I have changed my opinion is that, based on the selection of the squad for the coming series against Australia, it seems, it is a waste of money flying the selectors around, paying their hotel bills, and offering them out of pocket expenses and whatever else they may get from a board that is short of money.
Apart from the waste of time and money to transport and to accommodate those who do not have the chance of a snow ball in hell to make the team, in selecting 17 players plus 'sure picks' Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo, the selectors have baffled the fans.
His significance
Brendan Nash - file
What is even more important than that, however, is this: what purpose does it serve to have the selectors watching matches and looking at the players if after looking at them - if after his record during the season, if after his performance at Sabina Park in a final match - Kieron Pollard is rewarded with selection to the West Indies squad?
With a first-class average of 34.33, with a season average of below 30 going into the match, Pollard went to bat in the first innings at 41 for three in the 22nd over, and after a few overs swishing and missing, seven minutes after lunch, he hit pacer Daren Powell straight to square-leg and departed for five at 54 for five in the 29th over.
In the second innings, after Trinidad and Tobago had fallen for 121 in the first innings, after Jamaica had scored 293, he went to bat at 80 for three in the 40th over - on day three of the five-day contest, he hit Nikita Miller, the first delivery he received, for six over long-on, he swung at the second delivery and missed, he top-edged the third delivery over cover for four, he drove Taylor to the long-on boundary, he swung and missed, swung and missed against Miller, he hit the left-arm spinner straight for six, he swung again at the next delivery, was caught on the long-on boundary, and departed the scene for 20 in 19 minutes off 13 deliveries at 104 for five in the 44th over.
The match was over later that day with over two days to spare.
Cost incurred
Even if we can somehow forgive the selectors for selecting the likes of Brenton Parchment and Kemar Roach - the batsman who went to South Africa and did nothing and who came home and also did nothing in the regional tournament, the fast bowler who, with seven wickets in four first-class matches at an average of 30.57, is not even a regular in the Barbados team, it is difficult, very difficult, to see how so much money can be spent to fly the selectors around.
These are the selectors who were there on the spot seeing how Pollard batted while finishing at number 18 in the regional batting averages this season. They also had not seen William Perkins for the simple reason that, with a first-class batting average of 24.30 while finishing at number 31 in the region's batting averages this season, he was on the bench because he was not selected for his team in a final. How then could they, the West Indies selectors, have selected them while turning their backs on those who performed?
In spite of what they think of Brendan Nash and Miller, and despite Nash's poor first-class record and Miller's inability to dominate - to take a handful of wickets at a time, the fact of the matter is that this season Nash's figures included 91 not out, 102, and 117 after going to bat at 29 for three in the Challenge Trophy final, and that Miller, with 32 in the Cup and 10 in the Challenge final, finished with most wickets this season.
