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Mixed emotions about start of CPL

by Barbados Today
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West Indies and the USA will jointly host the ICC’s 2024 T20 World Cup next June, less than a year from now. As the only major T20 tournament being held in the region before then, this year’s 11th edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has, therefore, added significance.

Not just as the final opportunity for players to state their cases for inclusion in the West Indies’ World Cup squad, but also for the region itself to demonstrate its readiness to fully capitalize on all the available benefits that can be derived from hosting such a marquee tournament, upon which the entire cricket world will be focused..

However, with St Lucia hosting the opening round matches of this year’s CPL, the tournament has gotten off to a very rocky start.

One of the most questionable developments is the decision of West Indies white-ball head coach Daren Sammy to retain his position of head coach of the St Lucia Kings.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the cricket itself has generally been of astonishingly low standard with spilled catches having been the order of the day.

Alzarri Joseph must now surely believe that clean bowled and lbw are the only two viable modes of dismissal available to him. That many catches have already been dropped off his bowling.

The overweight Rakheem Cornwall, the Barbados Royal’s opening batter, being run out off only the second ball he faced in their match against the St Lucia Kings was sufficiently comical to have gone viral on social media. Most appropriately, it has also since been described as the laziest run out in T20 cricket history!

Astonishingly, it would appear as though neither Sammy nor anyone from within CPL’s or Cricket West Indies’ hierarchy appreciate the conflict of interest that has unquestionably resulted from his retention of head coach of the St Lucia Kings.

The conflict of interest has, of course, arisen from the reality that not only is Sammy now also the West Indies head coach, but he is also, even more importantly, a West Indies selector for the format.

As head coach and selector, and with the team scheduled to be automatic qualifiers in next year’s ICC T20 World Cup, Sammy’s primary responsibility should now be as a scout for the players who will best represent the region at that tournament. His sole job at this year’s CPL should be as an objective, unbiased observer, watching all of the matches and on the lookout for worthwhile contenders for West Indies squad inclusion!

How can he perform any such duties while simultaneously serving as the St Lucia Royals head coach? That is the question that begs to be asked but which, again unbelievably, has seemingly completely escaped all concerned, including, Sammy himself!

For all his inadequacies, which eventually resulted in his resignation from the position, Phil Simmons never once found it necessary or convenient to also serve as head coach of his native Trinidad & Tobago Knight Riders, while being the head coach of the West Indies. Such an occurrence as Sammy’s is not only most likely unprecedented in West Indies cricket history, but also possibly anywhere else in the world.

Thankfully, if “double duty” Daren Sammy does somehow manage to assume a degree of objectivity that would allow him to view the performances of all players at this year’s CPL without any bias, he and his fellow West Indies selectors, Chairman Desmond Haynes and Roland Butcher would have had a fair bit to be heartened by so far.

In particular, as maligned as they have been for his inclusion in the West Indies T20 squad for the recently concluded series against India, the selectors should be ecstatic over Roston Chase’s performances in the St Lucia King’s first three matches in this year’s CPL.

Chase has undoubtedly been this year’s standout West Indies player so far. He has scored one 50 and has taken a three-for with his off-spin bowling. He has also been a livewire in the field and has taken one of the best catches in the entire tournament to date. How Chase fares over the remaining matches will be interesting to see.

No less so though, than the performances of Erin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Oshane Thomas, and Haydn Walsh, all of whom have been excluded from the West Indies T2o set up within recent times for one reason or the other, but whose inclusions could undoubtedly be of immense value to the West Indies team’s improved fortunes.

There are also quite a few emerging players that the West Indies selectors will undoubtedly be keeping their eyes on. Kirk McKenzie looked exceptionally good during his time at the crease in his debut outing for the defending champions Jamaica Tallawahs. So too did Jair McAllister in the one over he bowled for the St Lucia Kings in their rain-affected match against the Guyana Amazon Warriors.

McAllister’s pace set tongues wagging. Many an optimistic Caribbean cricket fan might now, therefore, be licking their chops and entertaining fantasies of the West Indies fielding a real pace attack of Joseph, Thomas, and McAllister. Far from the fabled four-prong, but potentially with sufficient venom to cause severe discomfort among opposing batters.

Whether Thomas and McAllister can demonstrate during this year’s CPL of their capacity to fulfill such lofty ambitions in the near future will be interesting to see. So too will be whether the tournament itself can get back to much firmer footing in its remaining rounds.

About The Writer:

Guyana-born, 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.

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