Most T20 players are the best cricketers in the Caribbean
THE EDITOR, Madam:
WEST I NDIES cricket great and now a highly respected cricket commentator, Michael Holding, when asked why he does not commentate on T20 cricket, replied that he only commentates on cricket. Make that Test cricket. This was carried by the Hindustan Times of India on June 28, 2021. He went further to state that as long as T20 cricket retains the prominence it carries at this time, West Indies cricket will never get close to the top of world cricket again. That sentiment about West Indies Test cricket was also echoed by another West Indies cricketing great, Curtly Ambrose.
Without bearing anything even close to either man’s considerable cricket credentials, I totally agree with them both.
Christopher Gayle is widely acknowledged as perhaps the most accomplished T20 player at this time. But how many of us know that Chris Gayle has played 103 Test matches, 301 one-day internationals (ODI), scored over 7,000 Test runs and just under 10,500 ODI runs, averages 42 in Tests, and one of only four players to have scored two triple centuries in Tests. He joins a list of three other cricketing greats to have done this. They are Sir Donald Bradman, Virender Sehwag and Brian Lara. Which begs the question: if Chris Gayle was just starting his career today, would he be told that he is a specialist white-ball cricketer and not offered a chance to play Test cricket?
I am of the view, supported by some knowledgeable cricketing minds, that the best captain in the West Indies is Kieron Pollard and he should be our captain in all formats of the game, including Tests. He reminds of Clive Lloyd when he took over as captain of the West Indies team. Which begs the question again: If Lloyd was playing today, would he be confined to white-ball cricket only? What would have been the fate of Sir Vivian Richards, Desmond Haynes, Richie Richardson? Would they have been lost to white-ball cricket alone?
SELECT THE BEST TEAM
I join the call to make Pollard our Test captain and select the best West Indies Test team, which will feature Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Shai Hope, Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, et al.
Most of our T20 players happen to be the best cricketers in the Caribbean at this time, and in any other era of West Indies cricket would be playing Test cricket. HOPETON ST. A. MORRISON