Tony Becca

THE WEST Indies have named their squad of 15 players for the World Cup and, all things considered, the selectors have done a wonderful job.

There are, however, a few questions which chairman Gordon Greenidge, Andy Roberts and Clyde Butts, captain Brian Lara and coach Bennett King should answer.

The first question is this: why only four specialist bowlers in the squad for a tournament scheduled to last for six weeks and in which the top two teams will play 11 matches?

The second question is: why are there so many batsmen in the squad?

The third question is: why was Kieron Pollard selected in the squad?

The fourth question is: why is there no spin bowler in the squad?

And the fifth question is: why is left-arm wrist spinner Dave Mohammed among the reserves?

Looking at the first two questions, it seems strange that apart from Dwayne Bravo, who is expected to bat at number six, there are eight specialist batsmen and only four specialist bowlers in the squad.

With two pace-bowling all-rounders, Bravo and Dwayne Smith, in the squad, it is even more strange when one remembers that all four are pace bowlers and that pace bowlers are more likely than batsmen and slow bowlers to get injured.

Maybe there should have been another bowler in the squad at the expense of one of the batsmen.

win chances

Barring injuries, if all eight batsmen, plus Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith, play in the World Cup, the West Indies are hardly likely to win it.

Looking at the third question, I would not have selected Pollard - and for two simple reasons.

One reason is that I believe that he is too inexperienced and should be given some time to gain a little experience, and two is that in the three innings in which I have seen him he looked tentative to hostile bowling and basically, either in desperation or through frustration, threw his wicket away on two occasions.

Such has been batting in the West Indies in recent years, however, and such has been Pollard's batting this season that it is difficult to criticise the selectors for giving him the opportunity.

One never knows, but he may well be a young genius.

On top of that, that is the kind of selection that is expected from good selectors. Good selectors do not only look at statistics: they also look at talent, they assess and whenever they find someone with exceptional talent, they select him and let him loose.

Looking at question number four, once again it is strange that the selectors have decided to go into a tournament without a spin bowler in the squad - and especially so with some of the matches to be played on newly laid pitches of which, when it comes to pace and bounce, whether they will be responsive to pace or to spin, so little or nothing at all is known about them.

Some will say that Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels are spin bowlers, but in my book they are batsmen who bowl a bit and hardly anything else.

When one notes that the other seven teams in the top eight - Australia with Brad Hogg, England with Monty Panesar, India with Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, New Zealand with Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel, Pakistan with Danesh Kaneria and Shahid Afridi, South Africa with Robin Peterson, and Sri Lanka with Muttiah Muralitharan, all have at least one spin bowler in their squad, maybe the West Indies, the home team, know something that they do not.

why mohammed?

The absence of a spin bowler leads to question number five: why was Mohammed named as one of the reserves?

In cricket a reserve batsman is named if for any reason one of the batsmen has to pull out, a reserve fast bowler is named if for any reason one of the fast bowlers has to pull out, a reserve wicketkeeper is named usually named if for any reason the wicketkeeper has to pull out, and a reserve spin bowler is also usually named if for any reason the spin bowler or one of the spin bowlers has to pull out.

Remembering that except in exceptional cases the squad cannot be changed after it has been named, it is strange, really strange, that in a squad without a spin bowler, a squad which cannot be changed, a spin bowler is named as one of the reserves.

The only explanation, it appears, for the squad being one bowler short and for Mohammed being named as a reserve instead of being named to the squad is that despite the presence of Bravo, the selectors definitely wanted eight specialist batsmen in the squad - either that or, in their opinion, both the 22-year-old Lendl Simmons and the 19-year-old Pollard had to be selected.