Last year's runner-up in what was then the Red Stripe Cup, Jamaica start their bid for honours in the six team contest against defending champions Barbados on Friday at Sabina Park and with four of their top batsmen - James Adams, Robert Samuels, Leon Garrick and Wavell Hinds - still in South Africa with the West Indies ``A'' team, with 16 year old Marlon Samuels, who made his first-class debut last year against Trinidad and Tobago, in South Africa with the West Indies Youth team, the selectors, under chairman Chester Watson, have included 20 year old Carl Wright and 19 year old Ricardo Powell among the five batsmen. The other three batsmen are lefthanders Tony Powell and Mario Ventura and Gareth Breese.
The selectors had also included 18 year old lefthander Christopher Gayle in their origial squad of 14, but he was called to duty yesterday, for the West Indies Youth team in South Africa. The selectors also called up Keron Barker as a reserve.
Also in the squad are former Jamaica Youth and West Indies Youth wicketkeeper Andre Coley who replaces Shane Ford and is set to make his first appearance for Jamaica, and former West Indies fast bowler Patrick Patterson who last represented Jamaica in the regional four day competition in 1992.
The squad: Courtney Walsh - captain, Mario Ventura, Tony Powell, Gareth Breese, Carl Wright, Ricardo Powell, Andre Coley, fast bowlers Patrick Patterson, Franklyn Rose, Oneil Richards and Kirk Powell, offspinner Nehemiah Perry, and right arm legspinner Brian Murphy.
The notable omissions are wicketkeeper Ford who toured Sri Lanka with the West Indies ``A'' team in 1996, and 16 year old Tamar Lambert who, in five matches and eight innings representing the Jamaica Youth team last year, scored 217 runs with a top score of 74 against Guyana and an average of 31, and who, after going to bat with his side reeling at 12 for three in the face of some fiery bowling from Walsh and Denville McKenzie, scored an attractive 55 while sharing a fifth-wicket partnership of 104 with Coley who, joining the action at 17 for four, probably clinched his place with a solid 75.
Wright and Ricardo Powell - the man who blasted 306 runs for Holmwood Technical against Bellfield Comprehensive in the Headley Cup competition last year - represented the Jamaica Youth team in Guyana last August. In four matches and six innings, Wright scored 153 runs with a top score of 61 against the Windward Islands and an average of 25.50; and in five matches and eight innings, Ricardo Powell scored 152 runs with a top score of 53 against Guyana and an average of 19.
It is understood the selectors will put Patterson through fitness tests before announcing the 11 for Friday's match
More ... Opportunity knocks, example missing
Tony Becca
CRICKET: Apart from a couple of net sessions and the usual pep talks, Jamaica's preparation for the regional President's Cup cricket tournament which begins on Friday ended on Monday at Melbourne Oval with the players rearing to go and coach Rohan Kanhai hoping for the best. Looking at the squad of 14 players, bowling should once again be Jamaica's strength.
Although medium-pacer Laurie Williams will miss the first match, his absence should not seriously affect an attack to come from fast bowlers Courtney Walsh, Franklyn Rose and Patrick Patterson, Oneil Richards and Kirk Powell, and spin bowlers Nehemiah Perry and Brian Murphy. With such bowlers at their disposal, the selectors' only concern, apart from the final combination, should be Patterson's fitness. Once the world's fastest bowler, Patterson is bowling fast and accurately, and could be one of Jamaica's trump cards. Four days is a long time however, and remembering he could be in the field for an entire day, before throwing him into his first first-class match in five years, the selectors should ensure he has the stamina to bowl his quota of overs, run around the field, and come back again.
Patterson or no Patterson, the bowling will be in good hands. The question however, is what about the batting?
At its best, as far as its full complement is concerned, Jamaica's batting has struggled in recent years, and with the untried Christopher Gayle, Ricardo Powell and Carl Wright, who all disappointed in last year's regional youth tournament, plus Gareth Breese, who is yet to live up to expectations, filling in for Jimmy Adams, Robert Samuels, Leon Garrick and Hinds, many believe that it won't be any better this time around.
Remembering recent performances however, it should not be worse. In fact, the absence of one or two of the regular but inconsistent batsmen may be a blessing in disguise.
Despite the poor performance of the batting, based on the reluctance of the selectors to drop regulars, it is an opportunity which Gayle, Ricardo Powell and Wright would not have had the four in South Africa been home, and although, if the truth is spoken, the youngsters have done nothing in terms of runs scored to wear the national cap, it is possible that they have the capacity to rise to the occasion. ``Of course they are young players,'' said coach Kanhai yesterday, ``but apart from the fact that we have to go with what we have, a couple of them have the talent to succeed. Don't be surprised, especially if it is a good pitch, if one or two come up with good performances. This is a chance for them, they have to grab it, and if they do, it will be good - not only for them but for Jamaica's cricket. It will put pressure on the others and force them to pull up their socks.''
Looking at Jamaica's cricket however, and the importance of good leadership, it is not only some of the senior players who need to pull up their socks. The board and its selectors also need to do so. For years now, the board has complained about the poor standard of cricket in this country, the attitude of some of the players, and the poor attendance at matches. The question however is this: what example is the board, its selectors, and its members setting? The answer? None at all.
It seems strange, for example, that a board which retains selectors who demonstrate little respect for the players and the importance of their job by not attending matches or selection meetings can question the attitude of the players, and that board members, from top to bottom, whose interest is such that they do not attend matches can talk about the decline in spectator support.
More importantly, although Sunday was originally the day when the squad should have been selected and not Monday, it is strange that the captain of the team was not around to make his input - to be involved in discussions when the team was selected.
Courtney Walsh left the island on Monday for a Wednesday meeting in Antigua, and the questions are these. Did he have to leave on Monday? Could he, like Jamaican West Indies board member Maurice Foster, have left on Tuesday? And if he could not, why was the team not selected on Sunday? Certainly by then there was nothing more to see.
Jamaica's cricket is passing through troubled times, and the leadership must set an example. The question which the fans were asking this past weekend is this: If the board members and the selectors are not interested why should we?
If they are dreaming, and if they want to succeed, it should not follow. That however, May be the same question the players are asking.