Deonarine was hard done by selectors

Mar 29, 2015 Sports

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Says Sean Devers
Picked for the Test series in South Africa during the last five-day cricket played by the West Indies,

31-year-old Guyanese left-hander Narsingh Deonarine was expected to automatically make the 20-man squad which was named last week to pick the Regional team to battle England in the three-Test Series, starting in Antigua next month.
But the Berbician, who has played 18 Tests and 31 ODIs, was surprisingly ignored by the Clive Lloyd led West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) selection panel despite the fact that he scored centuries in the first two matches of the WICB First-Class Cricket Franchise and followed that up with a magnificent 90 against Barbados to help Guyana, for the first time in history, win four consecutive games ‘on the road’ and ultimately the title.
Deonarine scored 514 runs at an average of 42.8 and captured 14 wickets with his off-spin and became only the third Guyanese to score a century and capture a five-wicket haul in the same match.  He scored 139 and took 5-27 against the Windwards in the second round and was the first Guyanese to achieve that feat since Carl Hooper made 105 and took 5-52 against Barbados at Bourda 17 years ago.
To compound the confusing non-selection for the England series, Deonarine was picked as recent as

this year in the West Indies Test squad which toured South Africa but missed the opportunity to impress due to no fault of his.
Deonarine told Kaieteur Sports that a day before getting the news of his selection as a replacement for fellow Guyanese Assad Fudadin, he applied for his United Kingdom and South Africa Visas and his Passport, along with the relevant documents were sent by FEDEX to be processed.
“I told the Board If I had my Passport, I could have travelled through the US since I am a green card holder. I was told that I would get back my Passport in 15 working days and that there was nothing that could be done to fast track my UK Visa application,” Deonarine had disclosed.
But disappointment is nothing new to Deonarine, who was forced to miss the fifth round match against Jamaica because of the ‘flu’ a day after being bought by the Jamaica Tallawahs Franchise at the CPL draft in Kingston.
The flamboyant Deonarine, who has played eight T20 Internationals and 38 T20s overall could also bowl decent off-spin but was overlooked by the Amazon Warriors, while Fudadin and Shiv Chanderpaul, far less attacking with the bat and less useful with ball, were both selected for a format which better suites Deonarine and paid higher salaries than him.
Deonarine was reportedly offered less than half of what he was would be paid by the Jamaica Franchise.
“I am looking forward to continue making runs in the four-day tournament and I am confident that if

I do that I can get back into the Test team to play England,” Deonarine had said after missing the game against Jamaica.
“I am delighted to be picked by Jamaica since I was ignored by my home team last year. Good performances in the CPL could open up lots of opportunities for me since the CPL will be seen by millions around the World on TV,” Deonarine stated.
“When you get picked for any team it becomes your team and this year I feel Jamaica has a really good side which can win this tournament and I intend to play my part in that. When I come up against Guyana I will play as hard as I do for any other match even though it is not really a Guyana team but a franchise team is made up of different players from all over,” Deonarine added.
The elegant Berbician said he was not surprised to picked for the South Africa tour due to his back-to-back centuries and wickets in the first phase of the Franchise tournament.
Deonarine, surprisingly was given a ‘B’ class contract by the Jaguars, had not been selected for the West Indies for two years, but was the first to score 1000 runs in a Regional four-day competition (2007 in 2008) and was recalled for the England tour in 2009.
After a horrible time early last year he again rebounded with a Championship winning season for Guyana and should have been in the 20, especially since Devon Smith has again been recalled on the back of a highly successful Regional First-Class season.
One can also feel for Fudadin, who was picked for the South Africa Test series but broke his finger on opening day of the first Test. However, he recovered and played in Guyana’s last three games. If there was uncertainty about his injury he should have been picked in the 20 for the selectors to assess his batting.
The selection of Shannon Gabriel (13 wkts) ahead of left-arm Vincentian pacer Kenroy Peters, who captured 37 to be the leading pacer in a tournament dominated by spinners, also raised eyebrows.
The omission of Imran Khan (56 wkts), also a top order batsman, seems nonsensical if the Chairman of the WICB selectors is guided by what he says that the selectors will reward players for their performances at Regional level as they did with Devon Smith. What goes for one must go for all!

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