It is not unusual for the cricket fans in the Caribbean to seek reasons for some of the decisions made by Clive Lloyd and his fellow selectors.Under normal circumstances, the chosen players will hardly ever satisfy everyone. In the region, many fans look for the name of their favourite player, their countryman, or a member of their cricket team.
Had the present debate not been about Dinesh Ramdin's omission and Jason Holder's captaincy selection, I would really have bypassed it.However, there is merit in some of the decisions and while others can be challenged for explanation.
Let me immediately agree with the removal of Ramdin as captain. My comment has nothing to do with his knowledge as a leader, especially as I have seen him make good decisions during the course of his tenure as Captain of the West Indies.
Nevertheless, I have always been of the belief that a wicketkeeper's job is far too demanding and needs 100% concentration during a test match, even when he is sitting in the pavilion. The keeper has to concentrate every ball bowled. He has to focus upon the plan of each bowler, whether it be the fast bowler's bouncers, yorkers, or the deceptive spin of people like Devendra Bishoo, and Sunil Narine, the variation of the likes of Sulieman Benn, Veerasammy Permaul, and Narsingh Deonarine.
I am still convinced that he is the best keeper in the region today.
Now, some of you may be too old to recall the days when Clifford McWatt, Jackie Hendriks, Gerry Alexander very rarely contributed runs when they represented the WI in their eras. Their jobs were specifically to be the best wicketkeepers that they were chosen to be. These guys were never challenged for their poor batting. The reason was simple. Wicket keeping is a specialist duty and must be treated as such.
The great West Indian fast bowler Lance Gibbs was never asked to stay at the wicket for the length of time that he lasted during his career, which was about one over at best. He was the best off spin bowler of our time, and no one challenged his deficiencies with the bat.
Yes, there was a reason, because batsmen were selected to scores runs, which is exactly what Sobers, Conrad Hunte, Stollmeyer, The three "W", Kanhai, Joe Solomon were chosen to do. And they certainly did.Ramdin's batting had improved considerably because the present crop of West Indian batsmen were not capable of producing regular innings of quality and often the team was short of required runs.
When the present chairman of the selectors led the West indies team, neither Deryck Murray or Jeffrey Dujon were threatened for their batting, but their jobs were to deal with the likes of Michael Holding, Colin Croft, the late Malcolm Marshall, Sir Andy Roberts, Courtney Walsh, Ian Bishop, and Sir Curtly Ambrose, which was a heavy burden in itself.
But they dealt with their duties extremely well and batsmen in those teams also did their jobs.The captaincy given to Jason holder is literally a punishment for the 23 year old all-rounder, whose natural talent is just beginning to show itself in just a few international matches.
Lloyd himself should know that the job of captaincy cannot be learnt from a book. The experience of playing for a reasonable period of time, and at venues which are different from others, plus the knowledge gained from playing on different types of wickets, and gaining practical education from playing himself, but more so understanding the game enough that he shall be able to guide the destiny of his players.
Tough situations occur when players least expect them and the Skipper must learn to observe and instruct them through mild forms of communications and corrective methods.This is even more important when the age group of the players stretch from twenty three years old to mid-thirties, while none of the group can be considered brilliantly matured.
The temperament of Marlon Samuel can easily be a challenge for the young fast bowler, together with the decisions which he must make when four fast bowlers are on the field, himself included.Clive Lloyd's captaincy was easier than most, because he never had much guidance to give with the array of excellent batsmen, fast bowlers and wonderful fielding team.
What really could he have advised to these super stars? His contribution to the team was useful as well, with his stable middle order batting performances and excellence of the field.