West Indies to reconsider the ODI selection eligibility rule

West Indies, a team which was the most feared in the 60s and 70s and even going into the 80s, is presently a depleted side which was unable to qualify for this year’s Champions Trophy. The dispute between the players and the Board hasn’t helped either. Most of their key players have not played for the country for some time now owing to the selection policy of only considering players who have played in the domestic 50 over competition, a route which was devised in 2010.

Because of this, their star players in Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell are unable to represent the national team. However, talks have been initiated on currently revisiting this policy, which would enable the above mentioned cricketers to make a comeback and help the team in making it to the top eight, thereby enabling it a direct qualification to the 2019 World Cup.

Reconsidering the eligibility rule

The chairman of selectors, Courtney Browne said, “Players coming out of domestic cricket and showing they can perform at the international level is important. Yes, we have to look at it [the eligibility rule] but also be mindful that we have to develop our own domestic product, a stage where we can have a very good standard of regional cricket.”

The chairman has made it clear that he would rather not have a situation where the next generations coming through the conventional system i.e the domestic route are ignored. He elicited the examples of Vishaul Singh and Shimron Hetmyer, both of them who made their debuts against Pakistan this year. He said they should be given time to develop.

“We have a lot of young developing players, they’re all bunched together in terms of number of Tests, that’s par for the course. When you have a bunch of people you’re exposing to international cricket, you will tend to get these sorts of performances. But the good thing about it is, you have the coaching team and you have to give them some time to develop players” he said. He also added that they aren’t going to find a sensation overnight.

Dwayne Bravo, who last played an ODI in October 2014 has said that he is available for T20I selection but he will not relinquish his T20 contracts around the world to play the domestic tournament in the Carribean because playing there would not guarantee selection. He also added that if “structure changes or something different happens,” things could take a different outlook.