Windies players question ODI selections

News

Cricket365
June 13, 2016

The selection of Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine for an upcoming triangular series in the Caribbean has prompted a bemused response from some of the Windies senior players, with Dwayne Bravo taking to Twitter to label the decision 'a joke'.

Pollard has not played international cricket for a year and a half, while Narine last played in November last year when he was reported for chucking and told to work on his action.

The WICB’s decision to include the pair flies in the face of the selection policy laid out to the players, who had been advised that they would not be eligible to play for the national team unless they make themselves available for selection in the domestic Super50 tournament.

Former Skipper Darren Sammy tweeted his query at Pollard, first congratulating Pollard on his selection then jokingly asking. "Tell me how did (yo)u qualify for selection having not played the super50 or ODI since 2014?"

Chris Gayle also used the social media platform to voice his dismay at the pair’s selection asking, "@KieronPollard55 & #SunilNarine selected for WI Tri-Series How is that possible @westindies?"

Narine had been sidelined since the ICC declared his action suspect, but the ICC cleared the spinner to return this April and the WICB have allowed the player to come straight back into the squad without playing any form of domestic cricket aside from the IPL, prompting questions from press and players alike.

Former West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo fired off a pair of incredulous tweets aimed at the West Indies Cricket Board, with whom Bravo has had a less than friendly relationship after he led a mutiny of players, causing the tour against India in 2014 to be abandoned.

The Former skipper described the WICB’s turnaround on Pollard and Narine as 'Magic'. Bravo went on to tweet: "One minute we have to be available for domestic super 50 to be selected and the next minute, it seems we don't. Magic! Get serious people!"

The squad to face South Africa and Australia in June will be led by Jason Holder and also includes newcomers Ashley Nurse and Shannon Gabriel as well at World T20 stars Carlos Braithwaite and Marlon Samuels.