Something wrong in WI selection

EXECUTIVE member of the TT Cricket Board, Dr Allen Sammy, is calling on the selectors to explain why national leg-spinner Imran Khan was omitted from the Cricket West Indies (CWI) President’s XI 13-man squad that will begin a three-day practice match against Sri Lanka at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, at 10 am, today.

Khan finished second on the wicket taking chart in the 2017/2018 Regional Four-Day tournament, snatching 48 wickets at an average of 25.54. His best bowling figures in an innings was six for 59 and an impressive 10 for 112 in a match. In the 2016-2017 season, Khan was again second best wicket-taking bowler with and finished third in 2015-2016 with 44 as well.

Dr Sammy does not know why Khan, 33, continues to be overlooked.

“I have a concern about the whole policy on selection. I want to know if there is a clear-cut policy in terms of selection for all teams including the A-teams,” Dr Sammy said.

He said Khan’s age cannot be factor, as 36 year old Devon Smith was just selected for the West Indies Test squad for the Sri Lanka Test series. “For this A-team I am shocked that Imran Khan continues to be left out and age therefore cannot be an issue because the precedent has been established with Devon Smith. The fellah (Khan) has been consistently getting, if not the most wickets, the second most wickets, yet in my view it is a policy discrimination against him, so something has to be wrong. I am calling on the selectors to explain how they go about doing the selection,” Dr Sammy said.

The TTCB 1st vice-president said Ramdin’s absence on the Test team also baffles the mind as he is younger than Smith and made the second most runs in the four-day season. He said the selection of Anguilla’s Jahmar Hamilton for the Test series was bemusing considering his “atrocious” average of 16 runs last season.

There are no TT players in the President’s XI and just one (Shannon Gabriel) on the Windies Test team. Ramdin is the only TT player on the T20 team scheduled to play a charity match in England tomorrow.

The President’s XI match today vs Sri Lanka at the Brian Lara Academy in Tarouba is a warm-up match for a three-match Test series which bowls off at the Queen’s Park Oval from June 6 to 10.

President’s XI coach Floyd Reifer said he wants to give the Sri Lankans a poor start to their tour. “It is our mandate to make sure that the Sri Lankan team have a miserable time before going into the Test series. It is very crucial, we want to demoralise them as much as possible,” Reifer said.

Wicketkeeper/batsman Jahmar Hamilton also wants to give Sri Lanka a dismal start to the tour saying, “That is our job (to make sure they have a bad match)...put them on the back foot and let them know that this is just the start of what is to come in the Test match. It is just for us to go out there and just play hard cricket from the start.”

Hamilton, who is part of the squad for the first Test, is aiming to make a statement for the President’s XI squad in an effort to get into the starting XI next week.

Hamilton said, “It is an important game for me. I just have to keep doing what I was doing before, just keeping it simple, play the game as simple as possible, keep doing the basics. I just don’t want to put any pressure on myself and play my natural game and be successful.”

President’s XI Squad: Kieran Powell (captain), Sunil Ambris, Jermaine Blackwood, Shamarh Brooks, John Campbell, Rahkeem Cornwall, Miguel Cummins, Jahmar Hamilton, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Keon Joseph, Raymon Reifer, Vishual Singh, Jomel Warrican.