Dear Editor,
The recent announcement by the WICB Selection Panel that Shivnarine Chanderpaul was omitted from the squad chosen to compete against the visiting Australian cricket team, has invoked widespread shock and dismay. After all, Chanderpaul is a cricketing icon, a West Indian hero who undoubtedly deserves to be properly recognized at the end of his career. An appropriate ‘send-off’ is absolutely necessary.
But whose responsibility is it to ensure that this is done? That is the issue.
It is my view that the responsibility for arranging, an appropriate send-off for any WI cricketer rests wholly and solely with the West Indies Cricket Board and not the selectors.
The Selection Committee constitutes a unit of specialists appointed by the directorship of the WICB to select representative cricket teams of the WICB within predetermined policy guidelines and criteria, with the performance factor being the major influence in the process. In my vast experience of team selection I have never accepted that selecting a player to break a record is a criterion. Each individual is selected for the role he or she is expected to play towards the anticipated success of the team. Individual performances combine for team success.
However, there are times when selectors, with their technical competence, could venture outside the box to select individuals as long as those selectors could explain clearly the reasons for so doing. After all, the buck stops with them; they are the specialists. They make the call. Clive Lloyd, Courtney Walsh, Eldine Baptiste, Courtney Browne and Phillip Simmons all played Test cricket, and are extremely experienced in all aspects of cricket technically and in my opinion acted professionally and efficiently in dealing with the Chanderpaul issue. Evidently the selectors noted his declining performances particularly since the 2014 Bangladesh series.
In addition Chanderpaul’s age and the potent Aussie attack would have featured prominently in the deliberations of the selectors who reportedly advised him to announce his retirement after which arrangements could be made for an appropriate send off. That he declined to retire evidently placed him in competition for selection to a team in which the selectors felt he did not fit, having regard to their mandate to mould a strong, cohesive and successful team for the future.
I am of the opinion that by not announcing his retirement Chanderpaul has placed the selectors in a quandary, and they eventually and quite rightly had to make a decision in the interest of the team and by extension West Indies cricket.
Chanderpaul’s preoccupation, and that of many of his supporters, with breaking Brian Lara’s Test record was not a compelling reason which would have found favour with the selectors who would already have taken notice of the change in body language and the inconsistency of his recent Test innings. Since his rich harvest of runs against Bangladesh in 2014, Chanderpaul has recorded a below par performance, averaging 17 runs per innings in the two subsequent Test series against South Africa and England, and in the process his average plummeted from plus 53 to plus 51 per innings. There is absolutely no guarantee that Shiv would get the requisite 86 runs against Australia taking into account the slump in his batting and the Aussies potent attack. What then would be the position of Shiv, the selectors and the fans if he comes out of the Aussie series still short of Lara’s record? The selectors would have to play him again if the reason for his selection is to break Lara’s record. This would make a mockery of team selection.
Shiv could well be at risk of having his batting average dip below 50.
A Test average of plus 50 is the benchmark of an elite batsman and separates him from the average good performers.
It is not worth the risk. Being second to the great Brian Lara is in itself a major achievement. In any event, Chanderpaul’s 21 year Test career is replete with phenomenal performances and records including his 164 Test matches played, a feat that is likely to remain forever because of the reduced amount of Test matches now allocated to the West Indies.
Chanderpaul clearly received poor advice and guidance from the President and the Vice-President of the WICB, as well as the President and the Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB). The Secretary of the GCB is also a Director of the WICB.
The ethics and the professionalism of the WICB must be questioned when this President, Vice-President and two directors (including the GCB Secretary) publicly castigated the very selectors they appointed and have mandated to deal with team preparation and selection. The selectors are expected to have the full support of the WICB and any disagreement(s) ought to be handled out of the public glare. I am convinced that in the present selection panel and in coach Phil Simmons, West Indies can proudly boast of having a team of technical experts.
The poor advice Chanderpaul received from the WICB directorship reflects the fact that they are out of sync with reality. They should be supporting their selectors and ensuring that a properly thought out policy be implemented for selectees who are entering and leaving the WI cricket team.
Chanderpaul can still be afforded a great send-off at the end of this Australian tour since he has many other notable achievements as a cricketer and as an ambassador of cricket.
In this instance the WICB should have been sensitive to the impending closure of his career since the South African tour and thereby engage Chanderpaul and the selectors in determining a suitable time and place for his final game.
Consequently the current Aussie tour arrangements could have been so organized that the final game be played in Guyana to facilitate a most tumultuous and appropriate send-off for our legend. The fact that no game was scheduled for Guyana indicates that the WICB directorate instead of being supportive of Chanderpaul in fact dealt him a patent injustice. Chanderpaul should thank the Clive Lloyd-led selection panel for the prudent and professional advice which guarantees his presence among the elite batsmen of the world − a recognition he justly earned and richly deserves.
Yours faithfully,
Claude Raphael
Former Senior National Selector
