Afridi takes swipe at WICB for excluding most experienced players

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi took a swipe at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for its exclusion of the region’s most experienced players for the current Digicel ODI Home Series.

While Afridi said he can identify with the WICB’s thrust to develop its players and lift the standard of play in the West Indies, he said that it should not be done at the expense of senior players.

Afridi believes that for there to be development the senior players have to be around to guide the younger ones, especially in the competitive nature of international cricket.

The Pakistan team went through their final warm-up session at the Guyana National Stadium yesterday. (Orlando Charles photo)

The 31-year-old, who played 324 ODIs and 27 Tests, said that the selectors of the WICB, headed by Clyde Butts, should have included former number one batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Christopher Gayle for the series. On the other hand, he said that it was nice to see the return of Sarwan for the final two ODI matches of the series.

The batsmen who each have over 5000 runs in both Test and ODI and averages over 40 in both forms, except Gayle who averages 39.06 in ODI, were excluded by the selectors, who claimed that they were looking to blood younger talent for the future.

Shahid Afridi
Clyde Butts

Afridi said that administrators in his country have embarked on a process to have fresh talents emerging but he said the older, more experienced players are still around to guide and counsel.

He said the move by the WICB to not include the players was a mistake and it should be corrected. He said that the older players are there for a purpose and that is to ensure the younger players develop in the right manner.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Chris Gayle