Phil Simmons: No victimisation in West Indies selection

WEST INDIES cricket team coach Phil Simmons has rubbished claims of player victimisation within the squad, while there would be no Cricket West Indies (CWI) virtual meeting on Friday, to discuss an alleged rift between T20 captain Kieron Pollard and all-rounder Odean Smith.

On Thursday, a voicenote from a regional cricket commentator was sent to members of the sports media indicating that CWI planned to meet to clear up any issues regarding the treatment of Smith during the second T20 International against England, in Barbados, on Sunday.

Smith was an unused bowler during the match, and he was replaced by fellow Jamaican Rovman Powell for Wednesday’s third T20.

According to the voicenote, “The meeting, which is expected to be tense, has been called for January 28 at 9 am Eastern Caribbean Time.

It will be attended by the top brass of Cricket West Indies and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA).”

The voicenote continued, “WIPA is very upset over the treatment of Smith who, surprisingly, did not bowl a ball in the second T20 and was dropped for the third. Also high on the agenda would be the relationship between Pollard and Smith which is not the best apparently, and needs urgent attention.”

The voicenote added, “The leadership of Pollard would come firmly under the microscope. The Zoom link has been sent and nobody would be muted in the meeting which (is) expected to have plenty fireworks.”

A journalist from regional sports channel Sportsmax asked Simmons, during Thursday’s virtual media conference, if the coach was ever aware of any victimisation of any player in the West Indies setup.

“That can’t happen when I’m here,” replied Simmons. “We don’t victimise anyone, we don’t try to pull down anyone. We try to make a player a better person first of all and a better cricketer afterwards.”

The Sportsmax journalist then inquired if Simmons was made aware of any victimisation towards Smith by any active West Indies player?

“I think you’re going down the wrong line with this,” was Simmons’ response. “Let me explain something, we need to stop this foolishness. We look at the best team for the day. If Odean wasn’t in the best team for the day (on Wednesday), it’s because we thought that Rovman was better suited.

“All those who want to preach about victimisation, they need to look within themselves. There is no victimisation in the selection in West Indies cricket. We need to start stepping away from that and let the people who are pushing that head know that is not happening here. I’m not going to answering any more questions about things like that.”

With regards to the meeting, a CWI official said on Thursday, “That’s not true, that meeting (message) it’s not true, it’s just rumours.”

The official added, “We heard about the rumours and that is emanating from (a past CWI president and an ex-CWI presidential candidate). As far as I know, Cricket West Indies didn’t advise us about any meeting.”

And, on Thursday evening, former WI all-rounder Dwayne Bravo posted on Twitter, “After enjoying a beautiful hundred , a West Indies win series lead at present I woke up to see the same individuals who don’t care about the cricket trying to push a victimisation narrative … hopeless unhappy ppl…I guess some ppl will never change!”