Debate over the selection of the Barbados Pride team for the current regional eighth round first-class match against Guyana Jaguars at the Guyana National Stadium and the likelihood of the last two rounds of the Championship being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic have taken the spotlight.
It is sometimes puzzling to understand the thinking of selectors, especially if a player who is performing reasonably well finds himself on the outside.
The omission of experienced all-rounder Kevin Stoute from the Barbados 13-man squad for the key match against Guyana has raised many eyebrows.
In five matches this season, Stoute scored 222 runs including two half-centuries at an average of 37. As a medium-pace bowler, he has 12 wickets at 22.41 runs each.
There is a general feeling that Stoute should have been picked instead of his Empire club-mate Justin Greaves, who in four matches scored 162 runs with one half-century (ave: 23.14) as a specialist batsman.
Greaves is also an all-rounder, who bowls medium-pace but an injury has prevented him from bowling this season.
Stoute is considered as a bowling all-rounder and his performances with both bat and ball merited his selection in the squad even if he was left out of the final X1.
But with experienced batsman Jonathan Carter returning to the team after missing the previous three matches because of a thumb injury, the selectors still kept the 26-year-old Greaves in the squad from a batting perspective.
Critics will, however, suggest that Greaves’ statistics do not justify his selection when compared with Stoute’s.
Not for the first time in recent seasons, Stoute must be bitterly disappointed.
Despite scoring a commanding century in the trials, he was not selected for the opening match against Windward Islands Volcanoes at Arnos Vale in St. Vincent, which Barbados lost by three wickets.
He played in the second match against Guyana at Kensington Oval as Barbados triumphed by seven wickets, and after travelling to Kingston for the next match against Jamaica Scorpions, he was sidelined because of illness.
Stoute is aged 34, having played 76 first-class matches since his debut in 2007. He has 2929 runs including three centuries, at an average of 27.63, along with 154 wickets at 21.76 runs each.
It is believed that at his age, the selectors are gearing more towards a younger player with the hope of pushing for a pick at the international level.
But younger players must produce to justify their selection.
Unquestionably, once international players are available, the Barbados selectors are faced with making tough decisions in that a couple players who are performing fairly well have to make way.
That is also the case with other teams but it has been most marked with Barbados in the last couple seasons.
Lest we forget, eight Barbadians – Jason Holder, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shai Hope, Shamarh Brooks, Roston Chase, Shane Dowrich, Kemar Roach and Jomel Warrican – played in the last West Indies Test against Afghanistan at Lucknow in India just three-and-a-half months ago when Holder’s team swept to victory by nine wickets inside three days.
Duties with West Indies and a period of rest have led to Holder now playing his first match of the season, while Hope and Chase are yet to turn out. Hope and Chase are expected to feature in the last two matches against Jamaica and Leeward Islands Hurricanes at Kensington Oval.
As it stands, however, those matches scheduled for March 26-29 and April 2-5 are likely to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the on-going match, Barbados are parading six current Test players in Brathwaite, Jason Holder, Brooks, Dowrich, Roach and Warrican in addition to Jonathan Carter and Ashley Nurse, who have played at the One-Day International level.
One recalls that significant changes were also made to the team for the third round match of the 2018-19 season against Guyana at Kensington Oval after beating Jamaica by 41 runs at the 3Ws Oval.
The team against Jamaica showed Brooks (captain), Kraigg Brathwaite, Shayne Moseley, Jonathan Carter, Aaron Jones, Justin Greaves, Tevyn Walcott, Hayden Walsh Jr, Jomel Warrican, Keon Harding and Miguel Cummins.
For the match against Guyana, which Barbados lost by six wickets, Chase, Dowrich, Holder, Nurse and Roach replaced Jones, Greaves, Walcott, Walsh and Harding.
That is how the cookie crumbles when the “big boys” are available.
Brathwaite and Brooks have been struggling with the bat and as the season heads to a climax, they must be hoping for a big change.
Going into Round 8, Brathwaite had 336 runs with two half-centuries (ave: 25.84) and Brooks 248 including one century (ave: 20.66).
Some observers have been dwelling on the technique of Brathwaite and the concentration and confidence of both.
From a bowling perspective, it must be again emphasised that the Barbados pace attack has played a big role in their strong march for the title with Chemar Holder boasting of 34 wickets (ave: 18.70), Keon Harding 29 (ave: 23.20) and Roach 21 (ave: 16.90).
Harding joined Greaves in being omitted for the current match, as pitch conditions no doubt influenced the final selection.
As far as the race for the title is concerned, even with a defeat by 147 runs against Trinidad & Tobago Red Force at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba in the last round, Barbados still hold a significant lead of 30.2 points over second-placed and champions for the last five seasons, Guyana, who battled to a draw with bottom-of-the-table Leeward Islands.
The Points after Round 7 were: Barbados Pride 116 points, Guyana Jaguars on 85.8, Windward Islands Volcanoes 73.6, Trinidad & Tobago Red Force 72.2, Jamaica Scorpions 68.6 and Leeward Islands Hurricanes 48.4.
In relation to the growing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic and the number of global sporting events, which are being cancelled or postponed, it is expected that regional cricket tournaments will also be affected.
Keith Holder is a veteran, award-winning freelance sports journalist, who has been covering local, regional and International cricket since 1980 as a writer and commentator. He has compiled statistics on the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) Division 1 (now Elite) Championship for over three-and-a-half decades and is responsible for editing the BCA website (www.bcacricket.org).
Email: Keithfholder@gmail.com
