For Omar Phillips when one door closes, another opens.
But for Kevin Stoute, there is no room in either the Kirk Edwards-captained Barbados’ 13-man first-class cricket squad announced yesterday for next week’s trip to Jamaica or among the six reserves named in the Barbados Cricket Association’s (BCA) release.
Stoute, 25, has scored 1 304 runs at an average of 29.93 and taken 58 wickets with his slippery seam bowling at 22.03 runs apiece in 29 first-class matches.
Left-handed opener Phillips was overlooked by the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) for both the recent Regional Super50 and Caribbean T20, but has now been embraced by the Barbados selectors. He is also among the players who have been offered retainer contracts by the BCA.
So, too, has English-based fast-bowling all-rounder Christopher Jordan, who plays with Surrey in the English county championship.
Phillips, 25, who hit 94 in his debut innings of the first of two Tests for the West Indies in 2009 against Bangladesh when the first-choice players went on strike, captained the CCC successfully in last year’s regional first-class competition when the student cricketers topped the points table at the end of the round-robin format and reached the final.
He was the leading batsman in the three national trial matches over the past three weeks with a highest score of 71 while amassing 166 runs in five innings, following a productive 2011 Division One season.
His experience of 31 first-class matches (1 575 runs, ave: 28.12) with a double century under his belt, probably got him the nod over 21-year-old opener Rashidi Boucher, 21, who tallied 157 runs from the same number of innings in the trials.
He had three single-digit scores, along with knocks of 50 and 95.
Jordan, who bowled impressively in the Inter Parish and Quadrangular Invitational T20 tournaments at the 3Ws Oval between December and January, will join Test trio Fidel Edwards, Kemar Roach and Tino Best in a four-pronged pace attack.
Jordan, 23, a Combermere School alumnus, took five wickets at 21.80 in the trials and scored exactly 100 runs, batting late in the order, from three completed innings.
He has taken 56 wickets at 42 runs apiece and averages 25 with the bat in 28 first-class matches.
Prolific Division One batsman Kyle Hope secured his place in the side with a knock of 98 in the final trial at Pine Basin when he was bowled two short of a century by off-spinning all-rounder Kenroy Williams, who is also in the 13.
It is the first time that Williams, who captained Barbados in the Regional Super50 when Edwards was unavailable, has been named in the four-day team since 2005 when he played two first-class matches for Barbados.
Regarded as a specialist batsman, he took six for 52 with his under-rated off-breaks in the second trial at Yorkshire.
Apart from Stoute, a noticeable omission from the reserves is left-arm spinner Derick Bishop, 28, who was the most successful bowler on his return to national trials with ten wickets at 15.30 runs apiece.
The 19-year-old left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican, who bagged eight wickets at 19.25, and leg-spinner Nikolai Charles, with six wickets at 37 runs each, were somehow preferred to Bishop, who last represented Barbados in the last Stanford Twenty20 tournament in 2008.
A release from the BCA yesterday said practice sessions will remain as scheduled for all reserves while the team is away on duty and on their return.
No mention was made about the position of dynamic all-rounder Dwayne Smith, who is scheduled to leave next week for Bangladesh to play in that country’s inaugural Premier League Twenty20, but will be due back for the last couple of matches. Last year, Smith was also omitted from the first-class team.
Fidel Edwards, who was also signed up at the auction, is, however, in the team, an indication that he may be leaving after the Jamaica match which starts next Friday and ends on February 13.
