Spinners in Dilemma
When Trinidadian left arm spinner Dave Mohammed was excluded from the West Indies third and final test squad to face Pakistan in Karachi, it signalled the continuation of a disturbing trend for slow bowlers in the Caribbean.For some reason, ever since the days of Alf Valentine (139 wickets in 36 tests), Sonny Ramadhin (158 in 43) and Lance Gibbs (309 in 79), spinners have not lasted for too long in West Indian final line-ups both at home and abroad for several years now.
The spinners who surfaced during the glory days of Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards could consider themselves unfortunate, given the fact that the West Indies had fast bowlers who regularly dismissed opposing teams on any track.Rangy Nanan, for instance, only played in one test in which he finished with four wickets, and Clyde Butts played in seven, taking ten. Roger Harper could consider himself a bit more fortunate, playing in 25 tests even though, with 46 wickets, he never was a consistently destructive spinner. That, though, could have been due to the fact that he generally didn’t get to bowl very long spells.
More recently, in the last several years, the selectors have thrown spinner after spinner into oblivion, even though some of them did not at all perform too badly, especially when compared to the number of chances fast bowlers have been given.
Neil McGarrell, now 34 years old, was given 4 tests and took 17 wickets at 26.64 each. Dinanath Ramnarine, still only 31 but now retired, was unfairly undone by former captain Carl Hooper following their disagreements. He played in 12 and took 45 wickets at 30.73.
Mahendra Nagamootoo, also 31, was less impressive with 12 wickets in 5 tests at 53.08. Thirty-two-year-old Rawle Lewis has played in four tests and has taken just one wicket. Gareth Breeze has been given just one test in which he took two wickets.
Omari Banks, currently with the West Indies test team in Pakistan, and who appears to still be on the selectors' minds, has taken 28 wickets in ten tests, averaging 48.82. But at 24 years old, age is on his side.
Mohammed, who played in two of the three tests in Pakistan, has now taken 13 wickets in five matches at an average of 51.38. But a closer look at his career shows that his five tests were spread over more than three years going back to 2003.
He was given one test in South Africa in the 2003/2004 series, one in England in 2004, and one against India in the West Indies in 2006. The first two tests he played in Pakistan represent the first time that he has been chosen for two consecutive tests in his short career, only to be dropped for the third test.
But Mohammed's experience of not being given a decent run in consecutive matches is not unique to him alone, as many of the aforementioned spinners have suffered likewise, including Banks.
Compare these statistics with some of the recent stock of fast bowlers who have been around for some time now and it would become clear that the fast men are more inclined to be favoured by the selectors. Corey Colleymore at one time had 37 wickets in 14 tests. He now has 78 in 25 matches at 30.98.
Tino Best has taken 26 in 12 tests at 45.03 runs a piece. Fidel Edwards took 16 tests to get to 39 wickets, and now has 63 in 25 matches at an average of 44.30. Darren Powell has 44 wickets in 18 tests. Pedro Collins was persevered with until he started showing signs of improvement, taking 63 wickets in his last 17 tests. In all, he has taken 106 wickets in 32 matches.
The list can go on to include former fast bowlers Reon King and Mervyn Dillon, whose records, especially in their last few matches, betray their potential. Yet Dillon played in 38 test matches and King, 19.
The selectors have seemed to prefer to depend on a batsman who can bowl spin as the primary means of providing variety to the bowling attack. Hooper and now Chris Gayle are prime examples. In fact, in one innings during the current series in Pakistan, Gayle was given twice the number of overs as Mohammed.
Understandably, the spinners who have been around are no Muttiah Muralitharan or Shane Warne, but even they did not become stars overnight. And the West Indies' fast bowling attack has been largely ineffective for some time now, being unable to bowl out teams twice in test matches.
In Pakistan, Mohammed had taken six wickets by the end of the second test, second only to Jerome Taylor among the West Indies bowlers. His exclusion for the third test was therefore based on something other than cricketing logic.
Indeed, the apparent unwillingness to give at least one spinner a consistent run in test matches continues to boggle the mind and is something neither the selectors nor the head coach has been able to explain.
Not that they have bothered to explain anyway.