By Tony Becca - On The Boundary 
JAMAICA'S selectors are still a long way from naming the team for the first match in next year's regional four-day cricket tournament. Chances are, however, and especially because a number of the players, possibly as many as seven, will not be available because of the World Cup, they are already thinking about it, and have already, probably, penciled in a few names.
Although the preparation process has just started, the selectors may already have ticked off the names of players like opening batsman Leon Garrick, allrounder Gareth Breese, left-arm spin bowler Ryan Cunningham, fast bowler Franklyn Rose, and of course captain Robert Samuels - the former opening batsman who is now batting in the middle of the order. There is one other player, however, who probably should also be ticked off but who may not have been. Based on the action of the West Indies selectors who placed him on standby for the series against Pakistan in Sharjah, selected him for the "A" team for the tour of England and Canada, and named him in the 30-man squad from which the 15 for the World Cup will be selected, wicketkeeper/batsman Keith Hibbert is the heir apparent to Ridley Jacobs.
Jamaicans, however, do not believe that he is that good.
Although he enjoyed a promising start for Jamaica, Hibbert was disappointing behind the stumps this year during the Busta Series and the Red Stripe Bowl, and based on their reaction, Jamaicans, including a number of the players, do not believe he is a good wicketkeeper - so much so that they do not believe he should be Jamaica's wicketkeeper and certainly not an obvious choice.
In fact, with two other wicketkeepers in the squad preparing for the tournament, so too do the selectors. Apart from finding replacements for Christopher Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Marlon Samuels, and Jermaine Lawson and possibly for Ricardo Powell and Daren Powell, the problem facing the Jamaica selectors if Hibbert does not get into the team for the World Cup is what to do.
As the one considered by the West Indies selectors the next best to Jacobs it seems logical that he should be Jamaica's wicketkeeper.
In coming to the conclusion that Hibbert is the next best, however, the West Indies selectors may have done so not because of his skill but after comparing him to the wicketkeepers representing the other territories. He may simply be the best of a bad lot, and if that is so the Jamaica selectors are not obliged to select him.
If the Jamaica selectors believe that either Carlton Baugh Jnr or Matthew Sinclair is a better bet than Hibbert then they should not select him - and they should not select him for these reasons.
One is that the responsibility of the Jamaica selectors is to select the best team, the best players, to represent Jamaica; two is that it would not be fair to the one who is better not to select him; three is that it would not be fair to the Jamaica team; and four is that in the long run it would not be fair to West Indies cricket.
When the time comes to choose, it won't be easy for Jamaica's selectors. All things considered, it will be a tough decision.
Things could have been worse, however. The Jamaica selectors could now be facing two problems instead of one. As successful as Robert Samuels has been, the Jamaica selectors are lucky that they had recommended him as Jamaica's captain before Wavell Hinds was selected as vice-captain of the West Indies team.
