Former president of the T&T Cricket Board Deryck Murray says that he does not have any faith in the current West Indies selection panel of Clyde Butts, Courtney Browne and Robert Haynes. Commenting on the 13-man squad picked for the first Test against Pakistan, which began yesterday, the former West Indies wicket-keeper said the trio lacked a clear vision for the future. "I really don't understand what long or short term goals the selectors are working towards. Their plans don't add up," he said. "I'm not sure if it's their own selections or if they're being dictated to by the WICB, which would be unfortunate, but if that's the case, they don't deserve to be selectors."
Murray expressed surprise that only one spinner (Devendra Bishoo) had been chosen for the first Test match against Pakistan which started yesterday while fast bowler Fidel Edwards, who spent nearly two years on the sidelines before returning to First Class cricket this season, was included in the squad.
"Edwards has not had a lot of competitive cricket while there have been a number of spinners who have done well in the regional tournament such as [Kavesh] Kantasingh, [Nikita] Miller, [Amit] Jaggernauth and [Ryan] Austin. Guyana traditionally has good batting wickets that lack pace and bounce so I would have liked to have seen another spinner in the set up."
Murray pointed out that although Pakistan had reached the World Cup semifinals and won the ODI series 3-2, the West Indies could still look to capitalise on the absence of their key players Younis Khan, Mohammed Yousuf, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir. He added that the next few months, which will include five ODIs and three Tests against India, would make or break Darren Sammy as captain. "India are ranked number one in both Tests and ODIs so it will be the biggest test of his leadership so far. He was appointed under difficult circumstances and in my opinion, he's done the best he could with the teams he's been given. The board have made him captain until after the India series, which probably was not the right thing to do, but he has to make the best of it."