Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.
By Keith Holder
Developing the next generation of players is of paramount importance to chairman of the Barbados Pride selection committee, Henderson Broomes.
With the defending champions preparing for the Cricket West Indies (CWI) first-class season, which starts February 1, Broomes has been talking about the build-up and his expectations.
Three three-day matches are scheduled in the Barbados Cricket Legends Series (featuring teams named after Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Charles Griffith and Sir Gordon Greenidge) and after the squad is selected, there will be a four-day match against a Legends All Stars.
“Obviously as defending champions for the last two seasons, it would be nice to perform the hat-trick. However, personally that is not the only objective.
I see this season as one that is very important for the development of our next generation of players,” Broomes told this columnist in a wide-ranging interview.
“With a number of players expected to be unavailable because of West Indies duties, it gives the Hendy Broomes-led panel a perfect opportunity to expose some fresh talent.”
Since 1966 with the inception of the Shell Shield, Barbados boast of a record 24 first-class titles.
HOLDER: What was the thinking of the selectors in having three teams instead of four for the Legends Series?
BROOMES: Obviously when we first started there was no club cricket played for a while because of the Covid pandemic, and we felt that there was an opportunity for us to look at two things – (1) a number of players who we had on the radar previously but because there was no cricket we had to go with a gut feeling and (2) it tied in nicely where we had four teams which allowed us to look at 60 players, excluding international players who were on duty. So basically we would have exposed about 70 players.
The difference this time around is that we are coming off a full club season and we would have had an opportunity to see those players who we felt would be in the mix, along with a few more to make up the Legends squads.
We now have three teams of 18 for a total of 54 players, bearing in mind that we have 15 players on Barbados Franchise contracts, 11 on BCA contracts and six at West Indies level.
The date for the submission of the regional teams is January 17 so in essence there is not a lot of time left to have preparations.
HOLDER: With West Indies touring Pakistan (3 T20s), Zimbabwe (2 Tests) and South Africa (2 Tests, 3 ODIs and 3 T20s) over the next couple months, has there been consultation with the West Indies selectors?
BROOMES: I have had no direct discussions with the West Indies selectors. However, I did have conversations with the Barbados players, who represent West Indies on their availability for the Legends Series and those players will be accommodated in the second and third matches as West Indies teams are scheduled to leave on January 22nd for those tours to Pakistan, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
After the three Legends matches, the Barbados squad will play a four-day match against a Legends All Stars.
HOLDER: How excited are the players about the Legends Series?
BROOMES: Based on the previous Legends series both in red-ball and white-ball, the feedback from the players and public is that the Legends series is one, which they would like slated on the BCA calendar.
Having that type of feedback makes it easy for the motivation of players to be ready to play the Legends series.
HOLDER: What are your objectives for the first-class season?
BROOMES: Obviously as defending champions for the last two seasons, it would be nice to perform the hat-trick. However, personally that is not the only objective.
I see this season as one that is very important for the development of our next generation of players.
With a number of players expected to be unavailable because of West Indies duties, it gives the Hendy Broomes-led panel (the other selectors are Ryan Hinds and Carlisle Best. The captain and head coach sit in at selection meetings) a perfect opportunity to expose some fresh talent.
HOLDER: Do you care to mention some of the young, talented players who are expected to ask questions of the selectors in the Legends series?
BROOMES: Keith, if I was a player in these times I can clearly look and see players who will be on West Indies duty.
Let’s be realistic. Kraigg Brathwaite is the West Indies Test captain and No. 1 batsman so one can look at those vying for an opening position. For instance, we know that Shayne Moseley has played for the past few seasons and there are others in contention like Zachary McCaskie, Rashawn Worrell and Shian Brathwaite to name a few.
On the recent West Indies tour to Australia we had Shamarh Brooks, Raymond Reifer, Roston Chase and Kyle Mayers, which suggests to me that if everything goes equal, we should have four middle order spots available.
Hence, in the Legends series, I expect players like Jonathan Drakes, Nicholas Kirton, Joshua Dorne and certainly Kevin Wickham, again to just mention a few, to send strong messages to the selectors.
From a bowling perspective, just as we identified players on the last West Indies tour to Australia, we should be without the services of Jason Holder and Kemar Roach.
It then opens up two fast bowling spots and yet again to identify with our pace bowling stock, I expect that Chemar Holder should be fully fit and looking to regain his place. Keon Harding, who fell away at the back end of last season, should be eager to show what he has to offer.
We also have Dominic Drakes and Ramon Simmonds. Simmonds is expected to miss part of the season due to the South Africa domestic T20 competition.
And Jair McAllister continues to show that he is ready for the first-class arena.
From a slow bowling perspective, left-armer Jomel Warrican is the most experienced and off-spinner Chaim Holder played a couple matches last season.
In the Legends series, there will be opportunities for other spinners such as Camarie Boyce, Joshua Bishop and Nathan Sealy, who are all left-armers, leg-spinner Javed Leacock, off-spinners Tariq O’Neale and Romario Greaves and of course left-armer Matthew Jones, who was the only bowler to take 50 wickets in the just concluded BCA Elite division competition.
HOLDER: What advice do you have for the players in the Legends series?
BROOMES: Even though I have mentioned some of the talented players, as chairman I would like to say to all of the players involved in the Legends series that the opportunity is there for any player to stake his claim.
We can look at a few examples. For instance, Ramon Simmonds 12 to 15 months ago, and the strides that he has made since in both red-ball and white-ball tournaments; Javed Leacock played in the regional one-day competition and Jair McAllister was selected in the squad. They were all selected based on strong performances in the Legends Cup.
HOLDER: You have been a Barbados selector for over ten years including the last three as chairman. How keen are you on becoming a West Indies selector?
BROOMES: When I started out as a Barbados selector, to be become a West Indies selector was not on the radar. However, having done the job for the last ten years and travelled the region with a first hand knowledge of the regional players who make the West Indies team, I think it is only fair that at some point in time, Cricket West Indies should be looking at the regional selectors and making a choice from one of the six territories to help make up the international panel.
As it now stands, it would appear as though the only qualification to be an international selector is to play international cricket.
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 (rebranded Elite in 2012) Championship for four decades and provides statistics and stories for the BCA website (www.barbadoscricket.org). Email: Keithfholder@gmail.com
