Cricket West Indies hand ODI lifeline to Pollard, Narine and Bravo brothers

Cricket365
July 24, 2018

The Bravo brothers, Dwayne and Darren along with Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine have been handed an opening to feature at the 2019 World Cup.

The quartet have been excluded from the ODI group for some time due to the selection criteria applied by Cricket West Indies.

That could all be about to change after discussions between the board and affected players.

The CWI board have decided to move their domestic 50-over competition to October this year ensuring they avoid a clash with high profile T20 tournaments and also enabling them to get their house in order well ahead of the World Cup.

Johnny Grave CEO of Cricket West Indies told ESPNcricinfo: “”The overall message to Pollard, the Bravo brothers and Narine was ‘come and play in the Super50 Cup’, so that Courtney [Browne, chairman of selectors] and his selection panel will have all the players in system playing.

“This will not only increase the standard and hopefully give the panel a headache but will help our selectors better gauge and assess our young players if they’re scoring runs against Dwayne Bravo or Sunil in the final overs or getting Darren [Bravo] and Pollard out.”

Selector Courtney Browne reiterated that only players who make themselves available for the Super50 will be considered for national team selection.

Browne told Cricinfo: “It’s a very important tournament for us in preparation for the World Cup. People that want to put their names in the hat for consideration would need to play Super50 and perform.”

Cricket West Indies have struggled to overcome the obstacle of their best players choosing T20 Leagues over domestic cricket and therefore being ineligible to play in the fifty over format.

CWI have held individual meetings with the quartet who each have their own set of grievances.

Grave added: “Jimmy Adams [director cricket operations] and I met with Dwayne, Darren, Pollard and Narine’s agent in Trinidad.

“We met with them individually because they all have different circumstances. I would describe the meetings as positive, as everyone was looking to the future rather than the past.

“We talked through our entire schedule, not just now and to the 2019 World Cup, but also through all the matches and tours scheduled up to the World T20 in Australia 2020.

“We asked the players individually to take time to consider the requirements of Cricket West Indies, where we are going with the teams and how we are looking for prepare for international series.

“We have asked them to send us in writing a summary of their reflections confirming their availability and commitment to play for the Windies in different formats of the game.”