Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Sep 09, 2010 Sports
Selectors picked the players for contracts
By Sean Devers
As dashing West Indies middle order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan arrives in South Africa where he will hope to lead Guyana to the Champions League T20 cricket title, concerns over the reasons for his omission from the list of players given Central contracts by the WICB remain.
Responding to the question from Kaieteur Sports of who selected the players for the contracts, CEO of the WICB Ernest Hilaire explained yesterday that “The Selection Committee, headed by Clyde Butts, recommended the list of 15 players for Central Retainer Contracts and a list of 10 players for Developmental Contracts. The Executive Committee approved the recommendation.”
When asked if a fitness test was done on Sarwan (and a medical report submitted) after the Caribbean Championships before the names were disclosed since he looks even fitter now than last year when he was given a contract, Hilaire said that, Sarwan’s current fitness is not the issue.
“The WICB accepts that there may be periods during the year when Mr. Sarwan’s fitness is of an acceptable standard however as we had indicated when we offered clarifications the issue is with Ramnaresh’s “indifferent attitude and sporadic approach towards fitness”. His fitness has been inconsistent.
A world class player is required to maintain a consistently high level of fitness to allow him to perform at a high level. This is what we expect of Sarwan. He was spoken to in January after being written to about his attitude and fitness and we have not seen the change that we expected.”
Kaieteur Sport pointed out that players who also missed matches due to injury were given contracts while players with very poor performances for the West Indies over the last year (Pollard, Fletcher) were promoted ahead of Sarwan on the contract list.
The St Lucian Hilaire agreed but opined that Sarwan’s situation was different.
“It is true that there are players who missed matches due to injury have been offered contracts, however their situations are different to Ramnaresh as the specialists in the Team Management are clear that Ramnaresh’s poor level of fitness RESULTS in some of his injuries whereas, in the case of other players they suffer injuries which are a normal part of cricket. We should not equate the two situations” the CEO said.
“The high frequency with which Ramnaresh suffers injuries are, we reiterate, a DIRECT RESULT of his poor level of fitness which prevails too often. When the majority of other players are not injured their levels of fitness are of an acceptable standard. As was previously explained to you, performances of the players for West Indies, West Indies A Team, their territorial teams and other teams which they represented at various times in overseas leagues were reviewed by the Selection Committee.
We are aware that no matter what list of 15 players is offered contracts the Selection Committee and the WICB cannot satisfy all the fans. There will always be fans who will say that X or Y player should have gotten or should not have gotten contracts,” Hilaire continued.
He said the WICB has made it clear that it is not pleased with the level of performance of the West Indies team and moving forward it will not be business as usual.
The WICB will no longer tolerate players being happy to “get by” with mediocrity and not being keen on maximizing their full potential.
“Moving forward the Selection Committee does not believe that the WICB should award Central Retainer or Developmental contracts to players who show non-compliance and defiance on matters as fundamental as player fitness and physical preparation.
“The WICB emphasizes that in the ongoing development of a new team ethos – with regard to achieving outlined goals – a commitment to achieving and maintaining a high level of physical and medical fitness among other criteria (as outlined in the Selection Criteria) will be closely supervised and rigidly enforced,” Hilaire added.
The WICB, Hilaire says, believes that the building of a successful West Indies team unit is dependent on a set of core elements – as outlined in the recently published Selection Criteria – which players must demonstrate.
Apart from Sarwan, high profile players Jerome Taylor and Denesh Ramdin along with Guyanese Travis Dowlin and Narsingh Deonarine did not have their contracts renewed.
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