THE West Indies’ back-to-back tours of India (by the ‘A’ team presently underway to be immediately followed by the seniors’ attendance at the hurriedly arranged celebration of Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th Test) offer a welcome return to the longer game for the top players and a chance for the reserves to stake their claims for promotion.
If it is all but irrelevant as preparation for players and guidance for selectors for the altogether different environment encountered in New Zealand for three Tests and five ODIs in December and January, the focus can only be on the present.
Given that, for one reason or another (player commitments to their domestic teams and to those in the Champions League), India ‘A’ are not as strong as they were on their successful preceding ‘A’ series in South Africa and at home against New Zealand, Kirk Edwards and Kraigg Brathwaite, each dropped for the
