West Indies

Australia won the toss and chose to bat first but there was a delay at the start of play. Shortly after, it was reported by ESPN Cricinfo that play was suspended and all persons in the bubble will go into isolation.  The identity of the person who tested positive has not been revealed.

West Indies legend and commentator, Ian Bishop tweeted, “Unfortunate. It’s the risk taken in these testing times. Hope the person is not to. (sic) Adversely affected”.

Australia currently leads the three-match series 1-0 and were hoping to close out with a win today.

In game one, Australia posted a score of 252 for 9 in a game reduced to 49 overs. Captain Alex Carey top-scored with 67 while Ashton Turner added 49.

Leg spinner Hayden Walsh Jr. was the pick of the bowlers with 5 for 39 from his ten overs. In reply, the Windies were skittled out for just 123 in 26.2 overs. Kieron Pollard was the top scorer with 56 while fast bowler Mitchell Starc picked up his 8th five-wicket haul, finishing with 5 for 48 in 8 overs.

Before Wednesday’s start to the #RaiseTheBat series at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, both West Indies and England teams announced they would wear the Black Lives Matter logo on the collars of their playing shirts.

They further demonstrated support by kneeling on the field and on the boundary.

All members of the West Indies squad also wore black gloves. In addition, a flag was flown over the team’s balcony with the composite logos of Cricket West Indies and Black Lives Matter on the traditional maroon background.

Speaking ahead of the series, West Indies Head Coach Phil Simmons said:

PULLQuote: “It means a hell of a lot to all the players and all the staff on the tour. But it's not just about now, it's about life on the whole.”

The Black Lives Matter emblem was designed by Alisha Hosannah, the partner of Troy Deeney, captain of English Premier League side Watford. 

He was contacted by CWI and permission was granted for the logo to be displayed on the collar according to ICC regulations.

The logo has a clenched fist in place of the letter “A” in the word “Black”. It has also been used on the shirts of all 20 Premier League clubs since football returned behind closed doors following the break for COVID-19.

Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Justin Greaves as well as Assistant Coach Roddy Estwick and team physician Dr Akshai Mansingh all returned positive results and will now undergo a period of self-isolation. Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, and Kyle Mayers had tested positive prior to the start of the series are also in isolation.

With a total of six players now ruled out of the tour due to COVID-19 and a finger injury to Devon Thomas (sustained in the 1st T20I), CWI and PCB Officials met Thursday morning, after all members of the touring party were tested again, to determine whether the tour can continue.

According to sources, it was decided that the final T20 will be played but the ODI series could be called off if there is a further outbreak among the West Indies players.

The West Indies trail 0-2 in the T20 having lost the first match on December 13 by 63 runs and the second on December 14, by nine runs.

Shai Hope, Justin Greaves and Akeal Hosein were the players who tested positive along with assistant coach Roddy Estwick and team physician Dr Akshai Mansingh. These latest infections come on the heels of Kyle Mayers, Roston Chase and Sheldon Cottrell testing positive just prior to the start of the tour.

All will remain in isolation until they produce negative tests.

It is against this background, that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) have issued a joint statement announcing the postponement of the three ODIs scheduled.

“On Thursday morning and as part of the PCB COVID-19 Protocols, Rapid Antigen tests were conducted on the remaining 15 West Indies players and six-player support personnel. All 21 members of the West Indies touring party have returned negative test results. As such, Thursday’s T20 International (T20I) proceeded as planned,” the statement said.

However, taking into consideration both the teams’ welfare as well as limited resources in the West Indies side for the ODIs, it has been agreed that the series, which forms part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League, will be postponed and rescheduled for early June 2022.”

This, they said, will provide the West Indies with an equal opportunity to field their best available players for the World Cup qualification matches.

The West Indies team members, who returned negative results following Wednesday’s PCR and today’s Rapid Antigen tests, will depart from Pakistan after tonight’s match. Those who have tested positive will complete their isolation in Karachi before their travel arrangements are finalised to allow them to rejoin their families in time for Christmas celebrations.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan team members, all of whom have returned PCR negative after Wednesday’s tests, will also be leaving the Managed Event Environment after tonight’s third

The Master Blaster was certainly adept at sending the best deliveries of huffing bowlers crashing back into the stands.  But surely, any slight miscalculation, particularly with no restrictions yet implemented on bouncers, could have sent a 90mph delivery crashing into his skull.  Richards, however, believes the risk was simply a part of the game.

“The passion for the game I felt was such that I wouldn’t mind dying playing something that I love. If this is what I chose and I go down here, what better way is there to go,” Richards told former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson on a recent podcast.

The big West Indian was known for relying on reflex, quickness of eye, and technique to keep him out of trouble.

“I have looked at other sportsmen and women who I have a lot of respect for doing it to an extreme level. I see a guy driving a Formula 1 racing car, what could be more dangerous than that?” said Richards, to which Watson jokingly replied, “Facing 150kph without a helmet?”

Richards who scored 8540 runs in Test cricket, had a high score of 291 and averaged 50.23.  In ODIs, he scored 6721 with a highest of 189 and an average of 47.

In fact, the 41-year-old big hitter only just made his first appearance in the IPL this season on Thursday, against Royal Challengers Bangalore, with KXIP having previously played seven games.  Their results in those fixtures, many would argue, should have necessitated a much quicker introduction to the line-up for the 'Universe Boss' with the team having won just one of those games.

On debut, Gayle smashed 53 runs from 45 balls, a total that included five 6s, as the team coasted to an 8-wicket win.  The win was a first in five games.

“Good to see @henrygayle back and scoring a wonderful 53. Wonder what @lionsdenkxip were thinking by leaving him out all this while,” Tendulkar said via social media platform Twitter.

Gayle was expected to have been included in the line-up in the previous week but was hospitalised after experiencing a stomach illness.  There has been little information regarding why the player was kept out the line-up at the start of the season and for so many games subsequent.  KXIP will next play Mumbai Indians on Sunday, where the player is expected to feature again.

The West Indies and England will return to international cricket next month, with a three-Test match series behind closed doors.  With the spread of the coronavirus continuing to be a serious concern in the UK, for safety reasons, the players and everyone associated with the series will be kept in what has been described as a biosecure bubble for seven weeks.

With the United Kingdom (UK) being one of the hardest-hit countries by the virus and some 41,128 deaths already reported, there will doubtlessly be some element of risk in travelling for the tour.  As such, West Indies players were given the option of not accepting the invitation, with Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer and Keemo Paul all deciding to opt-out due to safety concerns.  As is customary, it is the host team that will be entitled to the revenue from the series, with the decision by the West Indies expected to save the England and Wales Cricket Board £120million in reimbursements to Sky Sports.

Due to the exceptional nature of the circumstances, Roberts believes the Caribbean team should have secured better compensation.

“I don’t have a problem with them negotiating to go to England, but what I have a problem with is talk that the West Indies will not benefit from the tour financially,” Roberts told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“I think that is a mistake because the chances that we are going to take, I don’t think you have many more countries that would be willing to take such a chance,” he added.

“If they are to benefit financially then I don’t have a problem, but if they are not going to benefit from it, then I have a problem, why take the risk and sacrifice the guys?”

Seeing all those 1996 sports events set off my path from sports fan to professionally in sports journalism and public relations.

I mention this to highlight that it’s 100 per cent clear to me that the modern “West Indies selection” trivialities are unique in global sports. It’s no longer a case where one can use the clichés; it's simply a case of selectors' opinion and Caribbean people can’t expect them to pick West Indies teams that attain full agreement.

 It’s very possible for myself and many astute sports fans to watch all teams in the NBA, English Premier League, other international cricket teams or at a FIFA World Cup and get a clear idea of the best starting XI or five.

 These teams still elicit media and fan discussion over player selection. However, it never descends to the current Windies selection malaise since the rise of T20 cricket leagues in 2009, where chosen teams never gets 90-100 per cent support from all stakeholders.

 As noted on another publication - https://m.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/127188/has-the-time-come-to-end-the-west-indies-experiment - observing CWI internally from 2019-2023 after previously in sports media from 2010-2019, fundamentally leads me to believe due to the modern dynamics of international cricket, unfortunately, despite who is in charge, the “Caribbean cricket” ecosystem cannot be fixed, whether the quasi-national “West Indies” construct is maintained or broken up voluntarily or by market forces.

 However, doing the simple global sports concept of “picking your best team” should not be hard for West Indies cricket to accomplish.

What are the best West Indies XIs?

 The reality is that selectors don’t objectively know and can’t currently select West Indies teams that will gain unanimous media and fan support. These suggested hypothetical XIs across might have been universally accepted if things were perfect but erudite West Indies observers know there is no chance of these teams ever taking the field.

 T20

 King, Hope, Pooran (wicketkeeper), Hetmyer, Powell (captain), Holder, Russell, Narine, Hosein, Joseph, McCoy

 Reserves: Rutherford, Allen, Shepherd, Drakes

 ODI

Lewis, Hope (captain/wicketkeeper), King, Pooran, Hetmyer, Mayers, Holder, Shepherd, Hosein, Joseph, McCoy

Reserves: Carty, Paul, Motie, Seales

TEST

K Braithwaite (Captain), T Chanderpaul, Bravo, Hope, Hetmyer, Pooran (wicketkeeper), Holder, Hosein, Joseph, Roach, Seales

 Reserves: King, Mayers, Cornwall, Gabriel, Da Silva

General selection problems:

 The role of “selectors” no longer works in the unique dynamics of the West Indies cricket multi-national construct. The former Ricky Skerritt administration's “selection review” task force implementation regrettably hasn’t been able to cure this problem.

 That review outside of the five Governance task force documents since 1992 was arguably the most consequential administrative document in recent CWI history.

 Caribbean cricket media and fans can attest to the complete trust breakdown in West Indies selection process since 2009 and why such a task force, that no cricket board globally had done before, was needed.

 Since 2009 West Indies have tried two “legends' Clive Lloyd & Desmond Haynes, a highly respected player, Roger Harper, and two players who didn’t succeed at the international level in Clyde Butts and Courtney Brown, for the polarizing role of chairman of selectors. None led to the improvement in West Indies results.

 Given the long-standing issue of insularity, currently having two selectors from Barbados in Desmond Haynes and Roland Butcher is unsustainable. Despite the gentleman’s potential good intentions - their presence is exasperating insularity feelings and bias in selection, whether real or perceived.

 Roger Harper lost his job after the West Indies were eliminated from the 2021 T20 World Cup group stage - however Desmond Haynes still remains despite selecting teams that failed to qualify for the 2022 T20 and ongoing 50 overs World Cups.

 A good example of this current case was when new white ball coach Darren Sammy, on appointment in May, saying he had in-depth conversations with Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer about playing for West Indies.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/wi-coach-daren-sammy-wants-to-get-andre-russell-suni-narine-shimron-hetmyer-back-1378679

 However, only Hetmyer has returned and selector Haynes said in his last public press conference in July, that Russell and Narine, who had just shown their quality in TKR’s run to CPL final, were not in his conversations.

 https://x.com/caribcricket/status/1686128090324320257?s=46

 This is basic deja’ vu. Many will recall a similar coach clash over players with selectors/administrators. During Phil Simmons’ first stint as coach he was comically suspended in 2015 for simply saying he wanted to select the best players.

 https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/phil-simmons-suspended-as-west-indies-coach-924039

 Also at domestic level there isn’t a clear alignment in picking teams for West Indies in mind, but rather for national interest to win the four-day and 50 over’s tournaments.

 To highlight two quotes from Daren Ganga who called out this issue in Trinidad & Tobago via a public Facebook post a few months ago:

 “Please focus on using retainer contracts to develop and reward younger cricketers and stop using for senior players who are underperforming and have non contention to play for West Indies.”

 “West Indies cricket is declining and our national selectors are directly contributing to the further demise of the game.”

 https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02ZNSqZ9WLosMX5bunaKvdfcXHHBRo3JLSLwF6xeyS5cwwLgxMRab3K2EfPZsxGjz9l&id=100028246136315

 Copying the English system:

 Since the rise of T20s in 2009 and the decline in domestic standards since the PCL revamp in 2014, West Indies selectors have erred more on the side of conservative selections. They have never truly been innovative in picking players away from statistical performances in a poor domestic system or picking players for Test cricket based on international limited overs form like other nations have attempted.

 That factor has led to the current predicament of having only two all-format players, Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph. The West Indies talent pool isn’t big enough to allow further continuing of this systematic selection faux pas.

 The English strategy of empowering the coach to be a selector with scouts around nations assisting should be implemented. Under Director of Cricket Rob Key in April 2021, the ECB made the role of selector redundant for 19 months, overseeing a period where the much-hyped “Bazball” Test cricket was implemented and England winning the 2022 T20 World Cup.

 Afterwards, despite success Luke Wright was appointed selector in November 2022,

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/england-cricket-ed-smith-s-tenure-ends-as-national-selector-as-role-is-made-redundant-1260049

 https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/luke-wright-named-as-england-men-s-new-selector-1345988

 That approach seems perfect for the West Indies, where the coach would have sole selection authority like a football manager with support of the captain and Caribbean-wide scouting network support system. Then Desmond Haynes and any of the “legends” can be used in a more productive role, rather than the outdated and impossible West Indies context job of “selector”.

Colin Benjamin was a Cricket West Indies communications officer from 2019-2023. He has covered West Indies cricket for more than a decade for other global and Caribbean publications.

The duo was unexpectedly dropped for the tour of the Caribbean, albeit being England’s leading wicket-takers. Since 2004, Anderson has played 22 matches against the West Indies and taken 87 wickets, the most by any England player, 36 of those wickets have come in 10 matches in the Caribbean.  His best figures of 7 for 49 also came against the West Indies in 2017.

 Broad, who first featured against the West Indies in 2009, has gone on to take 73 wickets.  Despite the absence of the two dominant bowlers that have wreaked havoc in the team's batting line-up over the years, however, Bonner insists the team’s mental approach will not be different as the English still have plenty of firepower.

“It’s a Test match nevertheless, whether Anderson or Broad are playing.  Obviously, they still have quality bowlers and the same application is required,” Bonner told members of the media on Saturday.

“In every series, it’s the same approach and this one will be no different,” he added.

Bonner insists he is looking forward to the challenge of facing England.

“After coming from India, I played some four-day games in Barbados.  I was able to spend some time at the crease and obviously coming into this camp I’ve done a lot of hard work as well, and I’m looking forward to playing against England.  It will be an important series for us.”

Conventional wisdom has at times suggested that a team’s best chance of doing well in the format is for batsmen to spend as much time out in the middle as possible.  With ball change rules, shorter boundaries, better bats, and more attacking-minded batsmen ODI scores in the last decade and a half have risen steadily.  Scores in the region of 350 have become more commonplace.  In fact, the top five highest scores in ODI cricket have all come in the last 14 years.

As such, Estwick points out that just occupying the crease will not be enough and the team must find a way to score runs.

“It’s hard to say you are going to bat time, you still need to make sure you get around 300 runs.  We can’t just say we will sit back and bat time,” Estwick told members of the media via a Zoom press conference call on Tuesday.

“We got to come up with better game plans, we have to execute better.  You know that you have a certain strike rate and certain runs per over to go at in ODI cricket,” he added.

“To be safe these days you have to make around 340, 350.  It might not be that much in this series but remember we are preparing for 2023 that is when the World Cup is.”

World-class spinner Shakib Al Hasan and a full-strength Bangladesh made short work of the regional team in a lopsided 3-0 sweep of the ODI series last week.  The Windies went into the series without several of its regular first-team players who pulled out of the tour for various reasons.

The ODI team, which was captained by Jason Mohammed, was the hardest hit, however, with at least eight players making their international team debut.  With more proven campaigners like bowlers Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel, and batsmen Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood, the Test team should be in better shape, in terms of experience in any case.

“It’s a big difference, we may have one, maybe two debutants for this Test series, whereas we had 10 for the ODI series.  So, it’s a huge difference,” Simmons said.

“The good thing is that those guys have been down here before.  On the last tour down here, Kraigg (Brathwaite) was captain, and Shannon and Roach were here.  So, it’s good to have that kind of experience going into a Test series,” he added.

The West will play Bangladesh in a two-Test series, which begins on February 2^nd.  The second Test will take place between February 10^th to 15^th.

Chasing a total of 309 runs for victory, on the final day, a win seemed possible when the team entered the final break at 221 for 5, needing another 88 runs to claim victory.

 The West Indies had a less-than-ideal start to the final session, however, and found themselves reduced to 273 for 8, following the dismissals of Roston Chase, Alzarri Joseph, and then Kemar Roach, in fairly quick succession.

 Raymon Reifer and Joshua Da Silva then combined to help West Indies fight for the draw, playing out the final eight overs to finish on 277 for 8.

“I’m not happy with the results, we should have won it,” Simmons said following the final ball.

“We have a few misplaced wickets in the middle, while we were controlling the game, so that was a disappointment, but at the end of the day the way how the guys fought is always greatly encouraging,” he added.

With the players getting plenty of opportunities to bat and bowl in pressure situations, Simmons was though satisfied with what the tour match provided, ahead of a difficult series.

“The two games have been very good for us, mind you, flattish wickets, but the bowlers got the overs in their legs and the batsmen got their time at the crease so that was good for us.”

On the back of another strong performance from Brandon King, who scored an unbeaten 91, led the Windies to a 5 wicket win at Amstelveen.  For the second game in a row the regional team chased down a figure just above 200, but the pursuit was not without its difficulties.

Also, for the second game in a row, the top order suffered somewhat of a collapse as the team lost its first three wickets for 48 runs.

“We came to Amsterdam to get victories and to be successful and I feel like we are doing a lot of the right things,” Pooran said following the match.

“Obviously, it’s a game of cricket and you can’t have the perfect game all the time…I saw with the batting that we had a bit of a collapse but then a wonderful partnership at the end and that is what we want as a team.”

The third and final match between the teams takes place on Saturday.

Spirits have been high, both for the West Indies team and many of its supporters, as the team followed up a surprise win away to Bangladesh with home wins over Sri Lanka and in both the T20 and One Day International series.

The fans will, however, be wary of celebrating a return to headier times too soon as the team has on several occasions given signs of turning the proverbial corner, so to speak, which they hope will be a crucial step to once again becoming a dominant force in world cricket.  Bravo, who scored a century in the ODI series, has explained that while things have not always quite gone to plan, the team is working to make the fans happy.

“To be honest, I don’t think it’s a situation where we have to try to be perfect because you will never ever be perfect.  It’s more about striving to be consistent in all facets of the game, whether it be bowling batting, or fielding,” Bravo told members of the media via a Zoom press conference call on Monday.

“I think as long as we strive for consistency then that is where you are going to see improvement.  If you try to be perfect, you fall short here and there.  As a team we are striving for consistency, the guys are working hard and I’m sure we are going to get it right.”

After a difficult series loss against South Africa, the West played their way to a 3-0 lead against Australia in a five-match series, before suffering their first loss on Thursday.

Even so, the affair was a closely contested one, with the Windies losing by just four runs in pursuit of the visitor’s target of 189.  So far for the series the West Indies has boasted an average of 167, up from the 157.4 average against South Africa.  

“I think we are getting close to where we want to be.  We are starting to get opening partnerships of 50 and above, we’ll take that any day,” Pooran told members of the media via an online press conference.

“In the middle overs, for the first three games we batted really well, that is something we adjusted.  After the first series we played that situation well, last time we kind of faltered there a little bit,” he added.

“All in all, I think we are getting there.  You can see in the end now Fabian Allen coming in to bat with Polly out, he’s played that role wonderfully for us and can actually lengthen our batting and we can depend more on Allen.  So from a standing captain's point of view, I believe we are getting there.”

The 34-year-old has not played for the West Indies since representing the squad at the World Cup last year, despite controversially featuring in several lucrative T20 tournaments since then, including the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Vitality T20 Blast.

In addition, the player has failed to make much of an impression in this season’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which is admittedly closely watched by the panel of selectors.  In six matches the all-rounder has averaged 7.40 and has a top score of 17.  With the ball, he has taken four wickets.

“We just didn’t consider Russell for selection and that was it,” Haynes said of the player’s exclusion.

“We haven’t really seen a lot of Russell in playing cricket for the West Indies recently and judging from what is happening now we just decided that we would move on,” he added.

Russell has played 67 matches for the West Indies and averaged 19.50 with a strike rate of 150.  He has taken 37 wickets at an economy rate of 9.18.

For the fourth straight ODI, the West Indies struggled to occupy the crease for any significant period, this time around in pursuit of India’s of 237, which could hardly be considered as overwhelming in most circumstances.

However, as has become the norm, the team struggled early on at the top of the order, with the first three batsmen combining for 46 runs.  Shamar Brooks and Akeal Hosein managed to put 42 on the board in the middle of the innings and Odean Smith added 24 late on, but chasing even such a modest target would have required plenty more stability and application, particularly at the top of the order.

Pooran, who himself made 9 from 13, insists the team needs to be much better at occupying the crease and carrying on to make notable scores.

“We kept losing wickets after developing partnerships.  Especially losing soft wickets,” Pooran said following the match.

“Every time someone is set, we got out at the wrong time.  The top five top six batsmen did not put up our hands tonight,” he added.

The team headed into the ODI series against India on the back of a particularly rough patch of form, having lost to Ireland for the first time in the format last month.  The Windies will look to avoid a sweep when they face India in the final match on Friday.

Twelve players, including West Indies captain Jason Holder, vice-captain Roston Chase and T20 captain Kieron Pollard opted not make themselves available for the upcoming tour of Bangladesh this month.  The players cited health and safety reasons in their decision to reject the tour.

The absence of the team’s first-string players will see Kraigg Brathwaite, lead the Test squad with Jermaine Blackwood as vice-captain. Former West Indies A team captain, Jason Mohammed, will lead the ODI team with Sunil Ambris as vice-captain.

There will be first-time call-ups for Kavem Hodge to the Test squad and left-handed opener Shayne Moseley and all-rounder Kyle Mayers touring in the Test squad for the first time, after being part of the reserve team to England and New Zealand.

Two players earned first call-ups to the ODI squad - Akeal Hosein, a left-arm spinner allrounder, and Kjorn Ottley, a left-handed top-order batsman.  Despite expecting difficult conditions for the tour, Ambrose hopes some of the players will use the opportunity to challenge for regular places.

“I think it’s the perfect opportunity for some of these youngsters who have been knocking on the door for some time now to show the selectors and the rest of the cricket people that they are ready for this kind of cricket,” Ambrose told the Good Morning Jojo radio show.

“I am hoping these guys do very well with Bangladesh.  Whether we win the series, draw the series, or even lose the series, I hope they do extremely well so that when they get back home lead selector Roger Harper and company will have some headaches to decide who to select.”

The recently concluded edition of the tournament, which was won by the Trinbago Knight Riders, did feature some of the region’s emerging talent.  In fact, a list of 20 young players was, as is required, named ahead of the tournament and several players featured prominently throughout the competition. 

The list included Alick Athanaze, Joshua Bishop, Leniko Boucher, Keacy Carty Roland Cato, Joshua da Silva, Dominic Drakes, Amir Jangoo, Nicholas Kirton, Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Kimani Melius, Ashmead Nedd, Jeavor Royal, Jayden Seales, Keagan Simmons, Kevin Sinclair, Shamar Springer, Bhaskar Yadram and Nyeem Young. 

There are, however, a few players who remain outside this group.  Leslie pointed to the example of Roshon Primus who represented Trinbago Knight Riders in the two previous seasons.  Leslie believes the idea of another country-based T20 tournament could be considered.

“The CPL has a franchise model, which in my view, has not been able to expose the best T20 cricketer that ply their trade in the Caribbean,” Leslie told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“I’ll give an example of Barbados.  Barbados started a T20 domestic tournament back in 2009.  Every year there are some players that contribute very well.  Roshon Primus, for example, does extremely well, but the opportunity for Roshon Primus to be selected, I’m not sure there is that level of transparency,” he added.

“Simply put, you can have young U-19 West Indies players given an opportunity to make the franchises because they were on a global stage. You can have the West Indies emerging players from the Super50, did very well, given an opportunity to play T20 cricket.  But what happens to local Barbadian T20 players, Trinidadians, and those across the region who ply their trade and play consistently well in their domestic tournament.  I believe there is very little for those persons.”