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Hamilton’s inclusion, Permaul’s snub raise eyebrows
By Sean Devers
Kaieteur News – The surprise inclusion of Wicket-Keeper Jahmar Hamilton along with Keeper/batsmen Shai Hope and Joshua Da Siva in the West Indies 17-member to face Pakistan in a two-Test series in Jamaica which commences tomorrow, has raised eyebrows, as does the continued snub of left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul.
Asked about the omission of 31-year-old Guyanese, who has taken 290 wickets in his last six Regional First-Class seasons, West Indies Head Coach Phill Simmons said that this was the best team selected.
Veerasammy Permaul (9)
He however, acknowledged that Persaud (5-38 & 2-69) had the most wickets in the only practice match for the Pakistan Tests which saw off-spinner Rakeem Cornwall take the only other five-wicket haul in the match.
The Berbician, with 535 wickets from 126 First-Class matches, scored more runs and took more wicket than the St Vincent born Bajan Jomal Warrican who failed to pick up a single wicket despite bowling the same 17 overs bowled by Permaul during his most recent five wicket-haul last week in Jamaica.
Neither Permaul nor Warrican played in the last Two-Test against South Africa.
The 58 year-old Simmons, a Trinidadian who played 26 Tests and 143 ODIs for the West Indies, defended Warrican selection based on his wickets in spin friendly conditions in the Two-Test series against Bangladesh back in February of this year. Warrican had 10 wickets from two Tests in Bangladesh.
But let’s not forget that Permaul, who has 18 wickets from six Tests, was on the bench for both of the matches while Warrican started that series with 22 wickets from eight matches.
Permaul, who has 29 five-wicket and seven 10-wicket match hauls in First-Class cricket, has been ignored for Test selection since June 2015 although he has captured 223 wickets in the last five Regional First-Class matches since then.
We would never know if Permaul would have taken more than 10 wickets against Bangladesh.
Permaul made his Test debut in 2012 against Bangladesh and took four wickets in that game and finished the series with eight wickets from two Tests.
He has played a single Test against India (2013), New Zealand (2013) and England (2015) before taking two wickets against Australia in 2015 and has not played Test cricket since then.
After claiming a record 67 wickets from 10 games in 2015 Regional First-Class tournament the Albion player was rewarded with selection against Australia, which was to be his last Test.
Warrican, who made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2016, has 271 first-Class victims since playing the first of his 69 matches against the Leewards in 2012.
The 2020 Regional First-Class Tournament was called off due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 global pandemic in March 2020 with two rounds remaining as Barbados broke Guyana’s five-year championship winning streak.
Permaul had taken 50-wickets from eight games, including match haul of 15-77 against Jamaica.
This was the second-best match figures in a domestic first-class match in the West Indies since 1966.
This was the third time Permaul had taken 50 wickets or more in season and with four possible times to bowl had the tournament not been called off, he was 17 wickets away of breaking his own record.
In 2015 Permaul took 67 wickets (a regional record). 2016 he captured 40, 2017 he had 41 scalps, 2018 he got 50 victims, 2019 he snared 42 and last year he ended with 50.
What is ironic is that Permaul has only played a single Test during the last six seasons; the best period in his career, in which he has taken 290 wickets, 19 more than the 29-year-old Warrican has in his entire career.
The former West Indies U-19 player who Captained the West Indies ‘A’ team against India ‘A’ in 2012, must be wondering what more he can do to get in a West Indies 17-man squad.
Some feel that bowling to batsmen who can’t play spin at the Regional level makes him so successful and that he will be unable to replicate those performances at the Test level.
That might be so, but while others are given numerous chances, why don’t the selectors give Permaul a chance to fail? He might surprise them.
West Indies 17-man Squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (Captain), Jermaine Blackwood (Vice Captain), Nkrumah Bonner, Shamarh Brooks, Rahkeem Cornwall, Roston Chase, Joshua Da Silva, Jahmar Hamilton, Chemar Holder, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Kieran Powell, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Jomel Warrican.
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