By Tony McWatt
The 2022 edition of the Caribbean Regional Four Day Championships was recently resumed with third-round matches played from May 18-21. The matches provided some very interesting takeaways, particularly in regards to competition for available spots on the West Indies Test team. The West Indies are scheduled to play two Tests at home against Bangladesh this coming June and an identical number in Australia this November-December.
There are still two rounds of matches remaining before the June 15 commencement of the first Test against Bangladesh, and obviously plenty of cricket is yet to be played. From the performances that have been produced thus far it has, however, already become most obvious that the West Indies Selection Panel will be given much to think about in terms of its choices for the eventual Test squad for the Bangladesh two-match Series.
The Championships’ third-round performances can now be viewed as having categorized players into three distinct groups. The first of which would be current or recent players whose performances were sufficiently outstanding as to suggest that they should now be in consideration for an immediate Test squad recall. Right behind those would be the second group of yet uncapped players who have now further advanced their claims for Test selection. Conversely and somewhat sadly, as the third and final group, there are those recent players whose performances would suggest that the prospects for any continuation of their respective Test careers might now be in permanent decline!
At the very top of the first identified group of players, consisting of current or recent players now clamouring for a recall, would be the Nevisian opening batsman Kieran Powell. He announced his claims for contention as West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite’s opening batting partner with two magnificent third round innings.
Powell stroked a commanding century (139) in the Leeward’s first innings against the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force. He was seemingly well on his way to another century in the second innings before being run out on 82, just eighteen runs short of his coveted target. All this against a Red Force pace attack which included two West Indies Test seamers in Shannon Gabriel and Jayden Seales, as well as Anderson Phillip who was also a member of the squad for the most recent series against England.
Barbados Pride’s Shai Hope, who not unlike Powell, has also been omitted from the West Indies team within the past two to three years, was also among those sticking their hands up for Test recall consideration. Hope stoked a defiant, majestic, 119 in Pride’s first innings against Guyana in an innings which fully displayed his considerable talents as a top-order batsman.
Among the bowlers who have as of late found themselves sitting on the sidelines of Test team inclusion, Rakheem Cornwall was the only one with a performance worthy of the selectors’ consideration. As captain Cornwall took 4/50 to help his Leeward Islands Hurricanes dismantle the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force’s second innings attempt to avoid defeat.
If the West Indies Selection Panel’s inclination is, however, to now look forward toward the future rather than backward to the past, there were several performances most worthy of their attention. Among the batsmen, there were centuries from as many as four as yet uncapped players.
In the match against the Barbados Pride Tangerine Chanderpaul, son of the legendary former West Indies batsman Shivnarine, opened the batting for the Guyana Harpy Eagles. He then remained at the crease for over six hours in compiling a mammoth unbeaten 140.
Criticized in some quarters for his painfully slow first innings batting he returned in the second, at number five in the order, to strike a whirlwind 23 not out off just 20 balls. An innings of admirable aggression that also included four successive boundaries.
Chanderpaul’s belligerent knock helped the Harpy Eagles to secure a much needed outright win against the Pride. It would also have served to give the West Indies Selectors almost two hundred highly valid reasons to now seriously consider him as a viable candidate as Kraigg Brathwaite’s Test opening batting partner.
There was also a majestic third round century (119*) from Jamaica Pride’s Brandon King, the current West Indies T20 opening batsman. King, somewhat surprisingly did not open the batting for the Scorpions, appearing instead at number five in the order. His magnificently struck century would, therefore, have placed him firmly among those now in early contention for one of the Test team’s arguably available middle-order spots.
Even more interesting for the selectors’ consideration would have been the centuries registered by Guyana’s Gudakesh Motie and the Trinidad Red Force’s Yannick Carriah. Motie known far more for his left-arm spin bowling struck a belligerent maiden first-class century (110) as part of Guyana’s mammoth first innings total against the Barbados Pride. Carriah, who is also a very useful leg-spinner, also registered his maiden first-class ton for the Red Force in their second innings against the Hurricanes.
The outstanding batting performances of both Motie and Carriah would now have provided the selectors with some very interesting all-rounder considerations. Motie and Carriah both also being useful enough spinners to suggest that their inclusion would provide a most welcomed, much increased, and improved balance to the West Indies Test squad.
Yet another as yet uncapped Test player Marquino Mindley, the Jamaica Scorpions’ opening bowler claimed 5/20 in the first innings of their match against the Windward Volcanoes. Two Scorpion bowlers, medium-pacer Derval Greene (5/46) and off-spinner Jamie Merchant (5/72) also registered five-wicket hauls for the selectors to consider. The Leeward Hurricanes opening pacer Jeremiah Louis was also among the wickets with returns of 4/32 and 3/31, in their winning cause against the Trinidad & Tobago Red Force.
Chanderpaul, King, Motie, Carriah, Mindley, Merchant, Royal and Louis are again all yet uncapped Test players. Their respective Regional Championship performances have, therefore, now provided the West Indies selectors with an abundance of available choices for Test squad inclusion in the foreseeable if not immediate future. Individually and collectively their performances may have also served as further nails in the coffins for several other players, whose prospects for continued Test careers would now seem to be in permanent decline.
Top-order batsmen Darren Bravo and Shamarh Brooks, all-rounder Roston Chase, wicket-keeper/batsman Shane Dowrich, pacer Shannon Gabriel, and left-arm spinner Jommel Warrican all failed miserably to register Championships third-round performances of any sufficient significance. As such with so many challengers having come to the fore, their chances for prolonging their respective Test careers might now be in serious jeopardy.
There are, however, still two further rounds of the Championships to be played. Plenty of time, therefore, for all of those on the wrong side of the spectrum to revive their now seemingly flagging claims for Test team inclusion. While attempting to do so they should rightfully be casting nervous over-the-shoulder glances at the performances from the likes of Powell, Chanderpaul, King, Hope, Motie and all others whose chances for Test squad selection would appear to be that much brighter.
The Championship’s remaining matches should, therefore, now provide even more interesting viewing than that which was witnessed during its recent third round!
About The Writer: Guyana-born, Toronto-based, Tony McWatt is the Publisher of both the WI Wickets and Wickets monthly online cricket magazines that are respectively targeted toward Caribbean and Canadian readers. He is also the only son of the former Guyana and West Indies wicket-keeper batsman the late Clifford “Baby Boy” McWatt.
