Harper unaware of any fitness or discipline issue with Permaul Berbician says he was available for English tour

Jun 05, 2020 Sports

By Sean Devers

Guyana and West Indies leftarm-spinner Veersammy Permaul is disappointed with his non-selection in a 25-member touring party selected to tour England for a Three-Test series next month after finishing the truncated 2020 season with 50 wickets from eight matches.

Veerasammy Permaul gestures as he lies on a stretcher after being injured, Pakistan v West Indies, 1st T20I, Karachi, April 1, 2018 © AFP

The 2020 season was aborted with two matches remaining due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 Pandemic and this was the third time Permaul has captured 50 or more wickets in a single season.
Three Guyanese were selected in a 30-man squad for possible selection but batsman Shimron Hetmyer and fast bowling all-rounder Kemo Paul opted out due to safety reasons. Trinidadian batsman Daren Bravo also made himself unavailable.
“I never told anyone that I was not available for the England tour so I take it that I was just not picked. Of course I am disappointed but my selection is not in my hands and all I can do is to continue to take wickets if I play for Guyana” Permaul said yesterday.
“I always say to myself ‘I will get back when God wants me there; God is my only hope,” said the 30-year-old from Albion, Berbice. Chairman of the CWI Selectors, Guyanese Roger Harper had said during a Radio interview before the 30-man squad was picked: “He (Permaul) has certainly put his hands up again, in a big way. You know, taking 50 wickets in the eight matches, he has really put his hands up, and of course he would be seriously considered.”

Veerasammy Permaul appeals successfully for Rohit Sharma’s wicket, India v West Indies, 1st Test, Kolkata, 3rd day, November 8, 2013 © BCCI

Harper then added that the players would be picked on ‘current’ form. When contacted yesterday to inquire if Permaul has any fitness or discipline problems, Harper said ‘not to my knowledge’ which makes his non-selection even more baffling.
When asked about the omission of Nicolas Pooran, Harper said he had not discussed Pooran’s availability with the player but informed that the Trinidadian has not played four-day cricket for a while.
Permaul said it was disappointing not have the chance of breaking his own record of 67 wickets he captured in 2015 when Guyana’s five-year winning streak was halted this season. “I am very disappointed that the two remaining matches were called off and I didn’t get the opportunity to break my record or even get another 60-plus season but as I have said it was an excellent season for me with the ball” said Permaul who has 535 wickets from 120 matches including 18 from six Tests.
Nickita Miller of Jamaica and Dominican Shane Shillingford are the only other bowlers with 500 First-Class wickets in Regional cricket. Permaul has 29 five-wicket and seven 10-wicket match hauls including 15-77 against Jamaica in Jamaica this season when he captured a career best 8-18 in the second innings to spin the Jaguars victory in three days.

Surely taking 50 in your last tournament is ‘current form’ yet it is amazing that with three players who would have been automatic picks, pulling out, Permaul cannot make a 25-man squad even if, for rewarding his consistent performances at the Regional First Class level. In 2015 when Guyana started their five-year winning streak, Permaul took 67 wickets from 10 matches which was the most ever taken in a single season.
In 2016 he bagged 40 wickets; in 2017 he added another 41 scalps to his tally before again reaching 50 victims in 2018. Last year Permaul took 42 before reaching 50 this year which means in the last six seasons he has taken 290 wickets at an average of 16.89. The Berbician has snared 18 five-wicket hauls and seven 10-wicket hauls during that period.
Some think that Permaul will not be able to replicate his performances in a sub-standard Regional tournament, where most of the batsmen are uncomfortable to spin on pitches which favour the spinners, when bowls on good tracks against International batsmen.
That is a fair point and the same can be said of Grenadian Devon Smith who continues to be a ‘Regional bully’. However, Smith was not selected in the squad of hopefuls and Permaul was which means that the Selectors felt that he was good enough to vie for a Test recall.
Permaul has 18 wickets from six Test matches but has been ignored since his last Test against Australia in Jamaica in June 2105. He has also played seven ODIs between 2012 and 2017. In 2018 Permaul bowled just three balls on his T20I debut against Pakistan at the National Stadium, Karachi before he pulled up with a twisted left-ankle and that was last taste of International cricket.