BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Chris Gayle was the unanimous choice to lead West Indies on the three-Test tour of Australia, chairman of selectors Clyde Butts revealed Monday.
The languid Jamaican, who has led the regional side for the last two years, was retained for the post despite speculation selectors would have explored other options.
Butts told CMC Sports while a few names were considered, Gayle was the overwhelming pick for the panel that also comprises Raphick Jumadeen and Robert Haynes.
“I think when you look at what took place over the last year, Chris Gayle was our captain before we had the impasse and we had Denesh Ramdin as his vice-captain,” Butts said in a telephone interview from Guyana.
“You had Ramnaresh Sarwan who has captained before and Dwayne Bravo who has also captained before.
“Those four names were considered for the captaincy of the West Indies team and at the end we though that Chris Gayle was at this time and at this moment, the most suitable person to captain West Indies and take them to Australia.”
Trinidad & Tobago captain Daren Ganga had been mooted in several quarters as a possible choice to captain the side, especially after he led the national team to the final of the Twenty20 Champions League in India earlier this month.
However, Butts said the panel was not convinced the right-handed opener could command a place in the Windies team, pointing to his past performances and his outing in the regional four-day championship earlier this year.
Ganga, who has played 48 Tests with modest success, finished with 749 runs at an average 46.18.
“His name actually came up but I don’t think we thought that Daren Ganga at this time would have gotten into a West Indies team,” said the former Guyana and West Indies off-spinner.
“Looking at the history of his batting and looking at how he has batted over the past year or so in the regional tournament, I don’t think he’s actually made a lot of runs in the tournament and it would have been difficult to see him in the this team.”
Selectors on Monday announced the 15-man squad for the tour of Australia which will see Tests in Brisbane (November 26-30), Adelaide (December 4-8) and Perth (December 16-20).
A lost chance…..
Immortality beckons as Ganga sheperded his charges for one last fling. For a change the odds seemed to be in their favour as they defeated NSW just days previously and became the darlings of the tournament. Ah, but this is a different day, an opponent with a different mind set. With the element of surprise neutralised and adrenalin gushing…..a different situation. Can Ganga inspire and bring out the best one ‘mo’ time?
Alas! It was not to be as Brett Lee, arguably the best fast bowler in the world, and four other Australian test players handed them their first defeat.
A marvellous opportunity presented itself. The West Indies needed a captain. Here is Ganga, simply put, the best captain in the West Indies. Bar none! Rather than appointing Ganga the captain, Clyde Butts said “Gayle was the unanimous choice”. For this idiotic unanimous selection Butts, Jumadeen and Haynes should submit their resignation pronto. By seemingly denigrating Ganga’s record Butts brought, inadvertently, the spotlight on his less than stellar test career – 7 matches, 10 wickets at an average of 59.50 – 1 wicket every 26 over , according to cricinfo.
The West Indies Cricket Board should have demonstrated the existence of cohones, to escape the culture of ineptitude and incompetence to the infinite power.
West Indies cricket is in such a precarious position, such dire straits, that West Indians cannot help but look at other teams’ behind. Perpetually it would seem. Putting some of these teams in the rear view mirror seems like a terrific idea. Unfortunately, the WICB, in its infinite wisdom has decided to maintain the status quo.
To those of you, and I know there are many, who say Ganga cannot make the team (you may want to re-examine the captaincy record of Lara), I say make him a specialist captain. Australia, England, India employed this model in the past with some success. And, oh, by the way, it’s not as though WI has a plethora of world class batsmen!
Simply put he is the best captain in the WI. A highly cerebral bloke, bright and articulate, a leader of men, a man of principles, an attorney in the making, a man with immense captaincy acumen, he may very well be the man to lead a renaissance in WI cricket fortunes.
Though not clairvoyant, I see a 3-0 Australian whitewash of the West Indies down under.