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Cricket Players'It hurts. I can't beg people to play for West Indies': WI coach, selector's blunt statement on absence of star players
West Indies head coach Phil Simmons and selector Desmond Haynes didn't mince their words as they talked about the unavailability of some of their star players for national selection.
The T20 World Cup is around the corner and the selection debates have started among participating teams. The West Indies Cricket Board, however, remains in a spot of bother after poor outings in the recently-concluded series against India, coupled with unavailability of some of their star players. In the India T20Is, a host of their players including power-hitter Andre Russell didn't take part; however, the Windies all-rounder was later in action in ‘The Hundred’, a domestic competition in England.
In an interaction with the media before the start of the three match-T20I series against New Zealand, West Indies chief selector Desmond Haynes and chief coach Phil Simmons expressed their disappointment at the scenario of unavailability of players ahead of the World Cup.
Haynes said, “I will love everyone to play for West Indies. I would love to make sure that all the guys make themselves available to play. But you must realise that the guys have options now, and if guys are choosing other franchises in front of West Indies, then we have to pick from who is available to us.”
It was evident that Haynes was pointing towards Russell and Sunil Narine, who was also not a part of the West Indies squad against India but is playing at The Hundred. Russell's name also featured in the list of overseas players declared by the UAE's International League T20, which starts in January next year. Russell has, in fact, not played for West Indies since the 2021 T20 World Cup. Talking directly about Russell, Haynes said "From what I have gathered, I think he is unavailable because he hasn't made himself available.
On the situation, Simmons commented, "It hurts. There's no other way to put it. But what can you do? I don't think that I should be begging people to play for their countries. I think if you want to represent West Indies, you will make yourself available.
“Life has changed, in that people have the opportunities to go different places and if they choose that over West Indies, that's just how it is.”
Haynes then reflected on the chances of players getting selected from the pool participating in Caribbean Premier League (CPL) which shall run from September 1 to October 1. About considering CPL performances for World Cup selection, Haynes said, "If there is a competition that is run by the West Indies (and) somebody is playing well, I think his name should really come up for selection."
He went on to add, "That performance is very important to us, and we didn't say that we have picked the World Cup team yet, so all the games that are going to be played leading up to the World Cup, we must take into consideration."
