Reward standout WI replacements
AS THE West Indies turn their attention towards next month’s return of international cricket to the region, former national cricketers Nehemiah Perry and Jeffery Dujon are urging the selectors to reward the standouts from the Windies’ Test series win over Bangladesh, with places in the upcoming home series.
After 13 months and three consecutive away tours, international cricket will resume in the Caribbean when the West Indies host Sri Lanka in Antigua.
Cricket West Indies yesterday confirmed the Sri Lankan tour, which will consist of three T20 matches, three One-Day Internationals and two Test matches in a biosecure environment.
The Windies have not hosted an international series since January 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in them travelling to England, New Zealand and Bangladesh, respectively.
Key players such as captain Jason Holder opted out of the last away tour because of COVID-19 concerns and citing bubble fatigue, which resulted in the selectors sending a group that managed to win the Test series 2-0, with several players making debuts.
NO GUARANTEES
Perry says that the upcoming series must include those that managed to perform well, with no guarantees for those who did not make themselves available.
“It’s difficult to change up the chemistry of a team when you are coming off back-to-back Test match wins. I would look at it very carefully, because you don’t want to turn off some of the players who would have gone and braved it out and fight for West Indies, [got] two wins, and when things are rosey and dandy, you see someone just walk back into the team,” Perry told The Gleaner.
Among those who had impressive performances during the Test series was Barbadian Kyle Mayers, who had a double century on his debut in the first Test. National batsman Nkrumah Bonner, who also made his Test debut, was named Player of the Series after scoring 231 runs, the second-highest total during the series, and Rahkeem Cornwall took the most wickets with 14.
While Dujon believes that it will be a tough but necessary task for the selectors to properly blend in the players that took advantage of their opportunity, they must not inadvertently punish those who chose to remain behind.
“It’s going to be an interesting decision because in their mind, they want to field the strongest team, but at the same time, they have to acknowledge the performances of some of the people who went to Bangladesh. It’s not going to be easy, because they will have to find the balance and also not to seem to the players that didn’t go, that any of them have been sort of victimised,” Dujon said.
Those players, such as Holder and Sheldon Cottrell, are currently participating in the West Indies Super50 Cup tournament in Antigua, the first regional tournament to be played since the pandemic.