Tym Glaser SHOWING ALL the steely fortitude and flair of a garden-variety gnat, the West Indies selection committee has managed to conjure up a squad of 15 destined to fail in England.
Instead of attempting to cultivate some of the rare young talent in the region like Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons or even young Barbadian 'keeper Patrick Browne, the selection panel, led by Gordon Greenidge, merely dunked their hands into the 'recycle' bin and pulled out names like Runako Morton and Sylvester Joseph.
Dispensed back into that receptacle were habitual 'recyclees' Marlon Samuels and Dwayne Smith, who now will probably have to wait until the one-day series after the four Tests in England to re-emerge from the bucket.
Following an embarrassing World Cup campaign and the retirement of skipper BrianLara, the selectors were given a grand opportunity to perform a major house-cleaning exercise on a team racked by inconsistency, indiscipline and little heart.
It was the right time to wield the axe and say "mediocre is just not good enough anymore" to some of the big names with little performances on their resumes.
'But, nooooooooo', as the late great John Belushi would say, the selectors took the easy way out and selected the same old faces for a tour which already has disaster written all over it.
Not many Test-playing sides have ever boasted a skipper who lives abroad but the Windies do so again with Florida-based Ramnaresh Sarwan inheriting the crown from Lara, who, in turn, received it from another 'Floranese', Shiv Chanderpaul.
Logical choice
Logistically, it's not a great trek and Sarwan seems to be the logical choice until Daren Ganga can cement a place in both the Test and one-day teams, but it just seems strange. Can you imagine an Australian captain living in New Zealand or a South African one living in Zimbabwe? Well, at least they play cricket in those countries.
For now, Sarwan, no Rock of Gibraltar at the top of the order, must lead a brittle team of under-performing 'talent' which will struggle on those English pitches against seam, swing and a battered side, aiming for redemption on home soil after Ashes and World Cup flops.
Meanwhile, players like Pollard and Simmons are left to ponder whether they have already been tagged as "one-day specialists"; Browne waits on a chance to don the maroon cap and left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed twirls in his mind the thought of whether the Windies will ever require another slow bowler.
Of course, all the above mentioned may be moot as the players and board head to arbitration over pay for the tour.
It's easy enough to say pay 'em nuttin' and only send those who want to play and chop the rest, but the maligned West Indies Players Association (WIPA) has been asking for the matter of this 'non-scheduled' tour to be settled for ages while the WICB has twiddled its thumbs.
I sense a classic case of union busting is coming with WIPA-affiliated players being cast aside and not considered for selection to Windies teams.
That would be nasty and ugly but may just achieve what the selectors didn't.
Feedback: tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com
