Latest update May 6th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 15, 2015 Sports
Trinidad & Tobago Newsday – Port of Spain, Trinidad – Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) president Azim Bassarath Tuesday washed his hands of the controversial dropping of Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Ravi Rampaul from the West Indies team for the 2015 World Cup.
Bassarath, in a statement to the media, noted that “while the TTCB has full confidence in the ability of Messrs (Dwayne) Bravo and (Kieron) Pollard to represent the West Indies in the 50-over format of the game, it would be a violation of the practice to question the selectors on the omission of these names…”
Bassarath, one of two TTCB Directors to the WICB, explained that as WICB Directors, they would have contributed to the guidelines and criteria for selection issued to the Selection Panel and therefore must respect the process.
“It should be noted that when the WICB T20 squad had eight (of 15) TT players in the 2014 tournament, no other Director or territorial board questioned the choices of the selectors,” he continued.
The TTCB boss made it clear that his organisation supports Pollard and Bravo and they are confident that the pair will return to the Windies one-day fold in the future based on their performances. He added that the Windies loss is the TT Red Force gain as they have an almost full strength squad for the Nagico Super50 tournament which bowls off today.
“We are confident that their performances will lead to their reinstatement into the regional team soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Allen Sammy, first vice-president of the TTCB, Tuesday denied that the Board is adopting a hands-off approach to the issue.
“This statement (by Bassarath) has made it absolutely clear our position. It is not only the position of the TTCB but all territorial boards in respect of questioning the wisdom of selectors. You are aware that wherever there are any 20 people in a given room they will pick 20 different squads. Those people (selectors) are all former Test cricketers and we have placed a lot of faith in them and will not question – at least publicly – the choices which they have made,” he declared.
Asked whether the TTCB was satisfied with the rationale of Clive Lloyd, Chairman of Selectors, in omitting Bravo and Pollard, Dr Sammy said the Board has not convened as yet to confer on the matter.
“I am not aware that the TTCB has met to discuss what Lloyd said. It was done yesterday after 5.30pm and the Board has not yet met since the issue of those explanations,” he remarked.
On the Sportsmax Zone on Monday, Lloyd argued that the team has been mired at No 8 in the ODI rankings for quite some time while Bravo and Pollard have not distinguished themselves individually.
He stressed that the time had come to make changes to the side to spark them into life. Lloyd, a former World Cup-winning captain, did not elaborate though on why St Lucian allrounder Darren Sammy retained his place in the team even though he has an inferior batting and bowling average than either Bravo or Pollard.
Dr Sammy was adamant though that although they would have liked to the duo on the World Cup squad, “we are guided by certain codes and practices and we would not want to be a maverick and breakaway and make comments in contrary to the codes and practices that would be in existence.”
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