WICB Investment Pays Off
There's a 'little' something hiding in the background of the drama unfolding in the second Test in Trinidad & Tobago.
Yes, a lot has been made of the work of debutant Carlton Baugh behind and in front of the stumps in this game but there is something remarkable about his ascendancy as Ridley Jacobs' understudy that has escaped everyone.
When the regional first-class Carib Beer season got started earlier this year, the 20-year-old Gus Logie lookalike was not even a regular in the Jamaica team. In fact, he was not even Jamaica's back-up wicket-keeper.
By the end of the season, the busy little right-hander had averaged 40.50 from 13 innings and worked his way up the ladder to score a century against Australia in the opening tour game.
This is where the much-maligned West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) must stand up and take a bow. When the board unveiled its policy of expansion for the regional tournament, the decision was derided in some quarters by many who argued that it was further watering down the level of the tournament.
The anti-expansionists, led by none other than the respected columnist Tony Cozier, insisted that consolidating the tournament to strengthen the teams and improve the quality of play was smarter than having every island in the Caribbean (and UWI) play in the first-class arena.
On the surface, when one looks at the disparity in team strengths, there is some meat in the contraction argument but, there is a bigger picture here and it starts with the little man Carlton Baugh.
Were it not for the WICB's forward-looking policy of exposing more Under-23 players through the 'B' team, Baugh would have been cooling his heels in Jamaica this year. When Jacobs got hurt, we might well have seen a fill-in like Courtney Browne or Junior Murray, both on the wrong side of 30, instead of a young back-up capable of taking over for the long haul.
If Baugh can add a bit of level-headed strokeplay to his batting (he's a tad too aggressive), we may well have found the next Jeffrey Dujon, a capable gloveman with the ability to score big at the bottom of the order.
Spare a thought, too, for the other youngsters who got a break in the Under-23 'B' team this year. Among the top 15 run-scorers in the Carib Beer competition, three members of the Windies 'B' team were featured -- Anil Kanhai (524 runs); Narsingh Deonarine (521 runs) and Baugh (486 runs).
When the season started, all three would have struggled to make their respective territorial teams. Instead, expansion gave them all an opportunity to put their names in the notebooks of the West Indies selectors.
It has not been limited to the young batsmen either. Jason Bennett, the right arm medium pacer from Barbados, was the fourth-highest wicket-taker with 30 wickets at 19.40 per. Would Bennett get a sniff in a full-strength Barbados side consisting of Drakes, Collins, Best, Collymore, Benn and Bradshaw?
Andrew Richardson, another young pacer with lots of promise, ended the season with 21 wickets at 35.19. According to the anti-expansionists, West Indies cricket would have been best served without Richardson getting a bowl this year. Those in favour of contraction would have been happy without Reon Thomas (11 wickets at 41.18) getting a bowl via the 'B' team.
The WICB has taken a lot of deserved flak in recent times for several foolhardy decisions. This time, they got it right with the expansion policy. Even if, down the line, Carlton Baugh's elevation is the only success from the policy, it would been worth the while.
The WICB deserves all the credit.