Some Questions for WI Selectors

West Indian cricket fans around the world have become accustomed to having their expectations of the regional team fluctuate between inspiring and inept performances for quite some time now.

But more recently, expectations have become largely optimistic, perhaps going back to the West Indies 4-1 victory over India in the one-day series in May/July this year at home, followed by some brilliant performances in the DLF Cup and Champions Trophy, in both of which they reached the final and lost embarrassingly to Australia.

Anand Vasu wrote on Wisden Cricinfo that supporting West Indies is tricky business, for they always find a way to strain the nerves.

"On occasion they're thrashing international bowlers with the freedom of young men just larking about, but even then you fear that a complete reversal is never far away," he continued, in an article penned after the West Indies lost the ICC Champions Trophy final.

Veteran international cricket commentator Tony Cozier, writing in Guyana's Stabroek News, calls it a "repetition of recent batting meltdowns...and a habitual weakness that compromises the undoubted advances they have made in the one-day game."

Indeed, the West Indies have made great strides in their performance, particularly in the one-day version of the game, in recent months, coinciding with Brian Lara's third dispensation as captain. But their tendency to be unpredictable against any strength of opposition has become all too predictable.

That typically explains the apprehension on the part of many fans as the regional team played in both the DLF Cup and Champions Trophy finals. While all true West Indian cricket fans would have been itching for and urging their team to beat Australia, there was perhaps a universal notion of caution -- that their team might just not win after all --below whatever outward display of support there was.

And who can blame them? In the first DLF Cup match against Australia, ten wickets fell for 65 after Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul had put on 136 in 18 overs for the opening partnership, chasing 280.

In the DLF Cup final, Australia bowled out the West Indies for 113 as they chased 241 for victory, and in a qualifying match in the Champions Trophy, Sri Lanka dismissed them for 80 as they batted first.

In another DLF Cup match, West Indies needed 162 to win against India, but after a 44-run opening partnership, they could only reach 146 all out, with Lara mysteriously coming in at number 9 in the batting order. In the Champions Trophy, the West Indies, going after 224 against India, were well on their way at 212 for 3 with 14 balls to come. But India rattled four wickets for only seven (or maybe it is more correct to say the West Indies gave up four wickets), before the winning run was scored with two balls remaining.

These scenarios are fresh in the minds of West Indians everywhere. And with the 2007 World Cup now only months away, it begs the question, what will the selectors do to address this trend that has now become very much an unsurprising element of West Indies cricket, particularly in one-day matches.

Their recent history of continuing with such failures like Marlon Samuels and Wavell Hinds does not give much hope. At least it seems they have finally put the full stop on Wavell Hinds. But have the selectors been checking the recent scores of Marlon Samuels, whether or not he was left with many overs to bat?

Carlton Baugh continues to be a miserable failure with the bat, and in modern day cricket, wicketkeepers and no longer just that. Why, then, have the selectors persisted with him in the one-days? Kumar Sangakkara, Adam Gilchrist, Mark Boucher and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are but a few examples for the selectors to learn from. And Denesh Ramdin's wicketkeeping and batting record, short as it is, stands tall above Baugh's in both forms of the game.

Why did the West Indies substitute Dwayne Smith for Corey Collymore, who was out of match practice by the time the crucial Champions Trophy final came around? Smith, while a letdown in his batting, has been bowling well, and is certainly a superior fielder than Collymore. Why make such a change in the final?

Moving Chanderpaul back to the top of the order was long overdue, but it has been done finally. Lara's coming in at number 6 against Australia in an earlier Champions Trophy game worked well and the West Indies won.

Why change what seems to be making the team win against the best opponents? At least, why so quickly? Is there a reason for keeping what (or who) is failing and changing what is making the team succeed?

Only the selectors and those in control of West Indies cricket can provide the answers.