RUMOURS OF A senior men’s West Indies squad embarking on a tour somewhere apparently had media personnel preparing to scamper to Grantley Adams International Airport a couple days ago in pursuit of a potentially sensational story about the regional side surreptitiously jetting off to locations still unknown.
Thankfully, it soon emerged that this was nothing more than what is now commonplace social media stupidness.
By naming a 16-man training squad for the T20 International series against Pakistan, though, chairman of selectors Courtney Browne and colleagues Eldine Baptiste and Lockhart Sebastien were leaving room for the rumour-mongers, given that contingents of such a size are usually only named for foreign campaigns.
Okay, okay, so the manufactured “rumour” was a poor attempt at opening this column with a bit of sarcastic humour. But hopefully you get the drift.
Why, in the midst of the regional first-class season with the majority of players already representing their franchises in the four-day version of the game and therefore very much match fit, would it be necessary to name a training squad for the T20s and therefore leave five players cooling their heels in the dressing room this afternoon at Kensington Oval when they should have been in action in the four-day games around the region this weekend?
Let’s not beat around the bush on this one. How does Veerasammy Permaul get a game this afternoon against Pakistan ahead of either Sunil Narine or Samuel Badree, unless the pitch for the opening fixture of the four-match series is certified as a raging turner well ahead of the toss?
If he doesn’t play, wouldn’t the Guyana Jaguars have more than enough reason to feel deeply aggrieved at being deprived of the services of their premier left-arm spinner for the top-of-the-table clash with the Barbados Pride that concludes tomorrow?
Just a week ago, Permaul wrecked the second innings of the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force at the Queen’s Park Oval, snaring seven for 48 and paving the way for the leaders and defending champions to complete a ten-wicket victory.
That result kept them ahead of the Pride going into the Kensington duel which started on Thursday to accommodate the one-day hiatus required to facilitate today’s T20 festivities.
Yes, there was the stated intention to reduce the squad to 13 before this first match of Pakistan’s seven-week journey through the Caribbean that will also encompass three One-Day Internationals (all in Guyana) and three Tests (Jamaica, Barbados and Dominica).
Surely it would have been more productive to make that cut ahead of the weekend’s fixtures to allow for those players to return to their franchises, unless it has been deemed that all this team-bonding thing and training together under the supervision of new head coach Stuart Law without actually seeing any competitive action are more beneficial than playing first-class cricket.
Jonathan Carter performed above this writer’s expectations in the three ODI’s against England, but really, where does he fit in amongst an assortment of attacking stroke players and celebrated big-hitters in a format of the game that almost demands fireworks from the outset?
And if the pitch at Kensington is anything like the one for England’s 186-run annihilation of the home side just over two weeks ago in front of their celebrating fellow countrymen, then it will be just the sort of surface for the likes of Marlon Samuels and Lendl Simmons to turn on the style before Kieron Pollard and skipper Carlos Brathwaite, among others, start heaving for the wide open spaces outside the ground.
Pakistan will not be daunted though, not after thrashing the World Twenty20 champions in three straight matches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi last September.
Their cricket has been rocked by a corruption scandal which emerged nearing the end of the Pakistan Super League earlier this month and resulted in five players, including attacking opening batsman Sharjeel Khan and giant fast bowler Mohammad Irfan being prevented from leaving their homeland as the investigations into the allegations continue.
It therefore represents an opportunity for a couple of previously unheralded names to make a mark on this tour and maybe earn an extended run in their national side.
Apart from the obvious entertainment value with sixes and fours all over the place, a strong start in the T20s here and the remaining three at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad later this week could be a boost for what is to follow, especially with the West Indies desperate to overhaul Pakistan for eighth spot in the ODI rankings and therefore qualify automatically for the 2019 World Cup in England.
So yes, which West Indies cricketer wouldn’t want to be part of the tour-opening T20 spectacle? But as a player, not a glorified spectator in those fluorescent vests carrying drinks, towels and other paraphernalia to and from the field.
Fazeer Mohammed is a regional cricket journalist and broadcaster who has been covering the game at all levels since 1987.
