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GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, February 25, 2017
Brown describes underperforming Brathwaite as an ‘investment’
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Chairman of selectors Courtney Browne has described Twenty20 World Cup hero, Carlos Brathwaite, as an “investment” in West Indies cricket and argues his inclusion to face England in the three-match One-Day International series should not be viewed purely in terms of recent form. The 28-year-old all-rounder’s selection has been questioned in some quarters especially in light of his recent failures but Browne said Brathwaite was still at a very early stage of his development and the selection panel was focused on getting the best out of him. “He’s a young player who is a very exciting player on his day, who hasn’t played a lot of international cricket either. He’s an investment and we all know if we get him right what he can produce for us,” Browne said in a radio interview here. “We would have seen him
in the T20 World Cup but one of the things is if you sit and hear, say a coach or captain, speak about Carlos Brathwaite it is a bit different.” He continued: “The way how 50-overs cricket is played now, where there are power-plays and there are certain bowlers you go for in power-plays and certain bowlers you don’t. And Carlos’s strike rate would be more than the other bowlers because of the time of the games when he bowls. “Not that I am saying that is in any way a reason not to perform but we have to take into consideration he’s still a young player at the international level. There are so much things. We have a very young team and … the selection panel we sat and we talked about all players, and we all felt that Carlos Brathwaite was still someone that we can get a lot out of.” Brathwaite shot to prominence last April when he smashed massive sixes off the first four balls of the last over to propel West Indies to a dra-
matic victory over England in the final of the Twenty20 World Cup. Since those heroics, his form in ODIs has been ordinary, with a meagre 157 runs coming
Browne contended Brathwaite should not be measured against his exploits at the T20 World Cup, especially since he was still relatively new to international cricket.
Twenty20 World Cup hero Carlos Brathwaite is described as an investment for the future.
from 12 appearances at a lowly average of 15.7, while taking 17 wickets with his medium pace. Overall, Brathwaite averages just 13 with the bat from 20 ODIs and has taken 21 wickets at 40.
“What you must understand is this is still a young man. If (he sit) and we expect Carlos to repeat what he did in the World Cup every single time, we’re going to fool ourselves,” the former Test
wicketkeeper explained. “Carlos needs to develop like any other cricketer. We’ve dug ourselves in a massive hole over the years, there’s no quick fix to our problem. It is about hard work. It’s about getting our players out there, developing our players. “It’s not about ‘you’ve had five games, you have not performed’ so just throw (the player away). It’s about helping players to develop and realising their full potential.” Brathwaite, who was elevated to the T20 captaincy last year, was a vital part of the Barbados Pride squad that won the Regional Super50 title last weekend in Antigua. Batting down the order and mostly coming at the crunch, he managed 91 runs from eight outings and snared eight wickets. Browne said it was important players like Brathwaite were given an extended run in order to prove themselves. “When you look at our players, there are some who
have been given a little extension because you want them to develop,” he noted. “We don’t want to have a case where you have a whole bunch of players – like what used to happen in the past – where we had so many players, all of them had games under their belts but none ever got a good extension or fair run to help them to develop. We need to develop cricketers. “We are number eight in the world because we put ourselves there by playing bad cricket over the years by making bad decisions. We have to develop a team, it is hard work but the one thing I must say about Carlos and a lot of the other players, we have players now who actually want to play, we have players who are committed, they are self-starters, they work hard. “When you see players who are doing that, you know that you will be able to create that environment that is conducive to producing cricketers that can perform consistently.”
Samuels accuses WICB of playing ‘hardball’ on eligibility rule … calls for compromise with players
Early round action at the GFC ground
Rain postpones Limacol Semis to Sunday INCLEMENT weather conditions have caused the postponement of the semi-finals of the Petra-organised Limacol round-robin/knockout football competition, billed for last evening at the GFC ground. According to a release from the organisers, the matches will now be played tomorrow with a date to be announced later for the finals. In the first affair, an all-Georgetown battle, Western Tigers will have their hands full when they take on the unpredictable Santos FC. Following their run in this
year’s tournament, the Tigers have shown time and time again that they are not just talking the talk; they are walking the walk. Conversely, there is the obvious underdog feeling that must be on Santos FC’s minds, but they have been steadily improving throughout. The earlier game will feature Police against Linden’s Winners Connection (WC). The leadership of Dwain Jacobs has proved sound so far for the boys in blue and while the unit may take a while to get into their groove, most teams would like to avoid
them, due to their ability to take their game to another level. Persons cannot count out Quincy Holder as well, one of the better players in the team that have spurred game-changing results whenever the conditions are right. WC, on the other hand, are a known physical team who will no doubt let Police know early that they are in for a tough 90 minutes and after Sunday night’s performance, Rene Gibbons has shown that all he needs is half a chance to make that difference. Kick off time is 18:30hrs.
KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) – Veteran right-hander Marlon Samuels has criticised the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) over their inflexibility regarding the controversial eligibility rule, and said it was time to compromise with players. The 36-year-old was ruled out of selection for the three One-Day Internationals against England next month, after failing to meet the criteria for selection by playing in the entire Regional Super50 which wrapped up last weekend in Antigua. Samuels, the squad’s most experienced ODI batsman, said it was confusing that the WICB had funded his recently bowling tests overseas so his action could be ratified by the International Cricket Council (ICC), only for selectors to then rule him out of selection. “I didn’t pay for my bowling. ICC didn’t pay for my bowling. The West Indies Cricket Board paid for my bowling,” the Jamaican told regional sports network, SportsMax. “So they invested in my bowling for me to come back to bowl against England. Now I’m going to hear that I have to stay and play all the Super50 games … so I said no problem.” He added: “At this stage I am not 20 and you are still continuing to tell me to miss out on everything, so why can’t you compromise? Why can’t I come and play some games in the PSL (Pakistan Super League) and come back and play against England.” The right-handed Samuels
Marlon Samuels played two games for Leeward Islands Hurricanes in the Super50 before jetting off to the United Arab Emirates to take up his contract in the PSL. Pointing to England captain Eoin Morgan who played a few games in the PSL before heading to the Caribbean for the upcoming ODI series, Samuels said the WICB’s eligibility was senseless as other international players faced no such restrictions. “It was not a sudden piece of information because they had told me that if I am not playing all the 50-over games, basically I wouldn’t be up for selection so I asked for my NOC and I’m here playing in the PSL,” Samuels said. “What I am saying, first and foremost, is that the rule that they have, I don’t think it’s making any sense. You have to compromise. “Eoin Morgan is playing in the PSL, he played a couple of games and he’s playing the three games for England so why can’t the West Indies Cricket Board compromise? Why play hardball in everything?”
Last November, Samuels pulled out of the West Indies squad for the Tri-Nations Series in Zimbabwe to fulfil a contract in the Bangladesh Premier League. This came after he had rejected a central retainer contract because he was offered a downgraded contract, from Grade B to Grade C. He said he was told that once he accepted the new retainer, he would not be allowed to play in the BPL. However, with the T20 contract more lucrative than his downgraded contract, Samuels said he was left with no option but to turn down the retainer and play in the T20 tournament. Samuels said he was disappointed by the board’s actions as he expected some level of loyalty after having shown long-term commitment to West Indies cricket. “Loyalty in terms of I am the only one from (the year) 2000 still here sticking around playing for West Indies,” Samuels stressed. “I have no problem doing that because I was playing Tests, T20 and ODI and (was) on a retainer so I have played all three (formats) … so I said ‘you know what, I’m going to have a long international career and continue to represent West Indies because this is where I started and West Indies made everybody else know me in the world’.” Samuels has amassed 5 180 runs from 187 matches at an average of 34.