Simmons, now 25, has represented the West Indies at all levels at home and overseas, from under-15s and under-19s to ‘A’ team and Tests and limited-overs internationals.
He bats with the touch of a special player, bowls useful medium-pace, is an electric fielder with (to borrow Tony Greig’s favourite phrase) a tracer-bullet throw. He even keeps wicket capably.
Smith’s credentials are similar. If anything, he is a better, livelier bowler and a more dynamic fielder, as fast and as good as anyone in the game, but doesn’t keep wicket.
Aged 20, he announced himself with a dazzling hundred off 93 balls against South Africa in Cape Town six years ago, surely the prelude to an exciting career.
By now, both Simmons and Smith should be automatic names on the West Indies team sheet, whatever the format of the game. Instead, their appearances have been spasmodic.
Simmons has had only three Tests and ten ODIs in the three-and-a-half years since his international debut. Smith’s count is 10 Tests and 77 ODIs.
Once more, they find themselves omitted from the West Indies team, from the squad of 15 for the forthcoming Twenty20 World championship in the Caribbean.
Since it is a game to which they seem especially suited and that the aging Wavell Hinds has been reinstated instead, they, and others, want to know why.
There is talk that Simmons’ exclusion has something to do with an adverse report about his behaviour on the tour of Australia in February. The West Indies Players Associa-tion (WIPA) has taken up his case by writing to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) seeking clarification.
According to new head coach, Ottis Gibson, Smith “hasn’t handled pressure very well when he’s played for West Indies.”
He would have been on more solid ground noting the number of times Smith has been out with the cross-batted slog that caused his fateful dismissal in the ODI against Zimbabwe at Provi-dence.
Whatever the reasons, real or imagined, there is one that matters above all others. It is the only one selectors need to justify their case.
It is performance, a reality that Gibson needs to emphasise to those now in his charge.
His main task is to ensure that those who rise to the top improve once they get there, rather than deteriorate, as Simmons, Smith and so many others in recent times have done.
Simmons is good enough to have two double-centuries in first-class matches. Yet his first-class average is a modest 33.6. In ODIs, it is just under 20.
Smith’s averages in ODIs, his strongest suit, are 16.22 batting, 36.78 bowling.
These are statistics that do not support strong cases. Nor are they the only ones who have either gone backwards or made no progress since their early promise.
On debut five years ago, aged 20, Denesh Ramdin seemed the ready replacement for Ridley Jacobs as impeccable wicket-keeper and reliable No.7 batsman. He was regarded as future captain. Now he is struggling to keep his place.
Even as essential as they are to the team, Ramnaresh Sarwan, as No.3 batsman, and Dwayne Bravo, as dynamic all-rounder, remain short of the standards of which they appeared capable on debut.
When Ted Dexter, the former England cricketer, saw Sarwan in his first series against Pakistan at home and England in England he predicted he would have a Test average of 50 at the end. At 41.73 after 83 Tests, he is well short.
Bravo’s first two series signified the arrival of something special. In his first 10 Tests, he had two hundreds and two returns of six wickets in an innings. He has managed only one hundred and no such bowling returns since.
He remains an exciting cricketer whose infectious enthusiasm lifts whatever team he is playing for. But his figures sell him short.
Whatever their class and experience, no one should feel – or be made to feel – indispensable. Perhaps the reintroduction of the ‘A’ team will provide real competition for those at the top to protect their positions.
Even when he was vice-captain, Sarwan was dropped during the Test series in Pakistan in 2006 and told by captain Brian Lara “to reflect and come back strong.”
The bottom line is performance. Attitude, handling pressure and other factors are parts of the equation but Simmons and Smith wouldn’t be wondering now why they are not preparing for the West Indies next engagement if batting and bowling averages were the other way round.
