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I support Melbourne Cricket Club president Mark Neita’s view that the best white ball players should play Test cricket for West Indies—but can it happen in reality?
When famous England Premier League football club Manchester United lost 3-1 to Brighton on 19 January 2025, their coach Ruben Amorim described his outfit as the worst team in Manchester United’s history.
Photo: Daniel Prentice/ Gallo Images/ Wired868.
Later that day, West Indies lost the first of a two Test series to Pakistan by 127 runs. If, at that point, coach Andre Coley similarly said he was leading the worst West Indies Test team in history, few would have disagreed.
The 2023-2025 World Test Championship cycle was a failure for West Indies, as they did not build on the singular Australia win. And our victory over Pakistan in the final Test meant little—a contest between the two lowest teams in the standings.
With the International Cricket Council (ICC) hinting at implementing a two-tier Test system, the West Indies Test team’s struggles are not helping to fend off those who are ready to read the last rites to our regional side.
The batting averages of the West Indies Test team for 2024 are a horror show: Kraigg Brathwaite 20.66, Mikyle Louis 23.78, Kavem Hodge 28.66, Alick Athanaze 24.88, Keacy Carty 21.66, Joshua Da Silva 22.55, Justin Greaves, 29.57, Jason Holder 34.50, Kirk McKenzie 17.10, Tagenarine Chanderpaul 7.75…
The West Indies’ batting crisis in this format didn’t start in 2024 either. It has been ongoing since the 2014 Professional Cricket League revamp, which has failed to produce Test-ready cricketers.
When Darren Sammy was announced as the incoming West Indies Test coach, Mr Neita supported the idea in a 19 December 2024 Gleaner article.
Who can seriously disagree with Neita that West Indies’ best white ball players should now play for the Test team, given the incumbents’ averages?
I would select the following Shai Hope-led team to face Australia in June’s three Test series.
Photo: CWI Media.
Starting XI: Kraigg Brathwaite, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (captain), Brandon King, Sherfane Rutherford, Nicholas Pooran+, Jason Holder, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales.
Squad: Amir Jangoo, Kyle Mayers, Jomel Warrican, Alzarri Joseph.
Kieron Pollard took over the white ball captaincy in 2019, with West Indies winless in all 50 overs series between 2015-2019 and floundering in the T20 arena since their 2016 title win.
(Copyright AP Photo/ Eranga Jayawardena.)
Brathwaite’s Test team has reached a similar crisis point. Acknowledging he is likely to become the last West Indian to play 100 Tests, that sentiment—not form—is the only reason why Brathwaite should be retained while other batsmen are discarded.
Jamaica and West Indies legend Jeff Dujon disagreed with Coley’s removal.
“Andre is the most experienced coach we have in the Caribbean, and he is being replaced by someone who has nowhere near that experience as a coach,” said Dujon. “So, it strikes me as being very strange. I don’t see any reason why Coley should have lost his job at this point.”
(Copyright ICC/ Getty.)
There are signs that Cricket West Indies (CWI) selectors are thinking along the same likes as Neita.
In a 10 October 2024 article in the Trinidad Guardian, CWI director of cricket Miles Bascombe said the door was open for white ball players represent the West Indies. He said the previous selection policy “could not stand up to the current intensity of cricket schedules”.
This follows the decision to copy English cricket by removing selectors from the West Indies and giving the coach, like a football manager, the autonomy to pick teams.
Notably, before losing his job, Coley never publicly stated whether he was on the same page with Bascombe.
The West Indies Test team is essentially a collection of players who are not good enough or wanted on the global T20 market. Also, it doesn’t help that the West Indies’ first class season from 29 January to 12 April clashes with all the major T20 leagues.
Would the likes of Pooran, Hope, King, Rutherford, Lewis, Mayers, Holder, and Shimron Hetmyer be willing to forego some of their T20 franchise offers and commit to West Indies for the 2025-2027 World Test Championship cycle?
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868.
Or would they feel fulfilled to end their days as white ball specialists?
If Sammy’s elevation to the post of Test coach does not lead to the majority—if not all—of the white ball cricketers making the switch with him, then what would be the point?
Should Sammy fail to get Pooran and company in white gear, Dujon’s critique of CWI’s decision to change Test coaches would be fully justified.
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Colin Benjamin is a former communications officer for Cricket West Indies and Trinidad and Tobago Professional Football League club, W Connection FC.
“Brathwaite’s Test team has reached a similar crisis point. Acknowledging he is likely to become the last West Indian to play 100 Tests, that sentiment—not form—is the only reason why Brathwaite should be retained while other batsmen are discarded.”
If there were room for that kind of sentimentality in West Indies cricket, we’d be discussing a whole new ball game. Three departures come readily to mind: Desmond Haynes, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul. A few Trinis I know won’t hesitate to add Darren Bravo and Lendl Simmons to that list.