Bravos return but still no place for Sarwan

Mar 09, 2010 Sports

The Clyde Butts-led West Indies selection panel has finally decided to include 21-year-old Trinidadian left-hander Daren Bravo for the last three ODIs against Zimbabwe in St Vincent after surprisingly leaving him out of the first two in Guyana.
Daren’s elder brother Dwayne also returns to the squad while there is still no place for Ramnaresh Sarwan who the selectors claimed is not fit enough for selection despite him scoring a century for Guyana in the final round of Regional 4-Day tournament.
Many, including this newspaper had called for Darren Bravo, one of the most naturally talented young batsmen in the Region, to be included in the West Indies team but Andre Fletcher, who has six ducks in his last 8 International innings, was selected instead.
Fletcher, who scored a duck in the last game at Providence on Sunday, now gets the axe along with Dwayne Smith from the squad which participated in Guyana.
After playing 4 ODIs last year, Daren was picked for the slam-bang 20/20 fixture against Zimbabwe in Trinidad and was not picked for the more ‘proper’ limited overs version of the game after getting a first ball duck.
This was after Shivnarine Chanderpaul, surprisingly selected for the 20/20 contest despite his poor record and obvious discomfort in this format alone, with the other top order batsmen had struggled to score, forcing Bravo to be aggressive from ball one, to bring the team back into contention.
Apparently deemed a 20/20 specialist by selectors Butts, Rafik Jumadeen and Robert Haynes, young Bravo was not picked for the 2 ODIs in Guyana. He has now been picked without doing anything since the last ODI which suggests he should have been there in the first place. At a time when the West Indies had not won a single ODI since June last year, before Sunday, the selection panel and West Indies Cricket Board continue their confusing policies which are clearly not the best ones as the Regional team continue to struggle to beat teams like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
Thirty-five-year-old Chanderpaul, easily our best batsman, should not be forced to play in the slog feast of 20/20 cricket since his value to the Test and even ODI team is critical and his career needs to be prolonged for as long as possible. While he averages over 50 in First-Class cricket and over 40 in Tests and ODIs, he has never made a 20/20 fifty and averages 18.89 in 20/20 Internationals. His selection for 20/20s exposes the selectors’ lack of understanding of our players or they might be just following instructions.
Dwayne Bravo’s inclusion is a welcome one as he not only brings his high-class all-round ability to the team but also his positive attitude on the field. He has not played for West Indies since the Tests against Australia nearly three months ago, after breaking his right thumb while playing for Australian State side Victoria in the Big Bash tournament in January.
Ramdin, dropped for his batting and replaced by Fletcher, who proved even worse with the bat and is not as good as Ramdin as a Keeper, exposed the bareness of the cupboard of Wicketkeeper batsmen in the region. The fact that Ramdin will be back behind the stumps tomorrow after his strange one-match dropping in Guyana suggests the selections in West Indies cricket is nearing panic mode.
While the Bravos should strengthen the team, the rejection of Sarwan means that the batting burned could again be on Skipper Chris Gayle and the dependable Chanderpaul.
The West Indies lost back-to-back matches to Zimbabwe in the first two International matches on tour before laboring to a series leveling win on Sunday and start tomorrow’s match know that they must win at least two of the three remaining games to avoid being beaten in a series for the first time ever by Zimbabwe.
Squad: Chris Gayle (capt), Adrian Barath, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Nikita Miller, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy.
(Sean Devers)

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Bravos return but still no place for Sarwan

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