Dehring, who was CEO of the ICC World Cup held in the Caribbean in 2007, visually and performance-wise the current West Indies teams, just don’t look the part.
“There is no West Indies team that when they step out onto the field, they don’t look like the athlete of the day,” Dehring argued while speaking on the popular Mason and Guest sports talk show in Barbados on Tuesday.
“That is from a visual aesthetic perspective. We were the athletes, we were the thing people would pay to come and see. And when you look at the West Indies team now at the Test level or even at the recent T20 World Cup, it’s shocking, a jarring visual to see how athletic the Bangladeshis are, the Indians, the Australians, the Pakistanis; we are rotund, overweight, looking unfit.”
Dehring called into question the much-ballyhooed fitness tests that the West Indies selectors often use as criteria for selecting players for international duty.
“I don’t care what fitness test they tell me some of these guys pass, I don’t believe it. I’m sorry. Can you imagine a Viv Richards in his day walking out with a paunch?”
Dehring said it was very disheartening to see how low the West Indies have fallen notwithstanding the talent that some of the players possess.
“Of course, they have some talent and every once in a while they will perform but it can’t be sustained because they are not professional. They are not even professionals as individuals much less to try and have a professional cricket team.”
Ever since the squad was named last month, West Indies selectors have come in for criticism for the selection of Gayle and other players like Darren Bravo, who was named among the reserves. Critics have also questioned why players like Sherfane Rutherford and Odean Smith were not selected given how well each performed during the 2021 Hero CPL tournament in St Kitts and Nevis.
However, amidst all of the criticism, Gayle has perhaps come in for the greatest criticism because of the absence of his explosive form that has made him arguably the most successful T20 batsman in the world.
Former West Indies fast bowler Sir Curtly Ambrose is among those questioning Gayle’s selection. However, with the Jamaican already in the squad, Ambrose did not believe Gayle should start for the West Indies when the tournament begins.
“No, he (Gayle) is not an automatic choice for me. The few home series (West Indies) just played, he had no scores of significance, and I have said before that if he did not do well in those home series, he should not go to the World Cup,” Ambrose reasoned while speaking on Mason and Guest talk show in Barbados last week.
“However, he will be at the World Cup, but for me, he is definitely not an automatic choice for starting… If he gets it going on the day, he can be destructive, but he has not done much in the last 18 months or so to really make me think he will set the World Cup alight.”
Responding to Ambrose’s criticisms, Gayle lashed out hard while speaking on The Island Tea Morning Show in St Kitts on Tuesday.
“I can tell you personally and you can let him know that Chris Gayle, the Universe Boss, have no respect for Curtly Ambrose whatsoever,” said Gayle, who accused the fast-bowling great of seeking attention.
“I am speaking about Curtly Ambrose. I am singling out Curtly Ambrose, one of your own. I highly respected him when I came into the West Indies team. When I just joined the team, I looked up to this man. But I am now speaking from my heart. I don’t know what, since he retired, what he had against Chris Gayle. Those negative things he has been saying within the press, I don’t know if he is looking for attention but he is getting the attention. So I am just giving back the attention which he requires and which he needs.”
Gayle continued: “We have won the tournament twice and we will be going for the third title. The team has seen what is happening. It is going to reflect on the team. If the past players continue being negative, I am Chris Gayle Universe Boss is going to be disrespectful, disrespectful verbally in their face. In the media as well. I am not going to take anything from any senior player. Curtly Ambrose pull your socks up, alright? Support for West Indies, ok? Support West Indies, that is the thing.”
The West Indies begin the defence of their title when they play England on October 23 in Dubai.
Eighteen players were awarded contracts including newcomers to the Test side – Joshua Da Silva, Nkrumah Bonner and Kyle Mayers – but members of the public and at least one territorial body, who questioned why certain players were overlooked.
The Guyana Cricket Board write to CWI requesting the criteria used to select players awarded contracts after Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd and Veerasammy Permaul were among the players left out.
The situation sparked a war of words between the GCB and Chief Selector Roger Harper.
However, according to Dr Kishore Shallow, there will be changes to the system now used by the time the next contract period comes around.
“I would say that we are looking at the system for awarding grades and so on for the contracts. I expect that for the next contractual period we will have an improved system in terms of how we award these contracts,” said Dr Shallow while speaking on Mason and Guest in Barbados on Tuesday.
He revealed that the idea of improving the system was already being discussed at the highest level of the CWI.
“The Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams, myself and others have been involved in that process over the last few months and we have been working closely with WIPA (West Indies Players Association) as well, who want to ensure that we are all on a level playing field both from the CWI side and the player side,” he said.
Holder, who was speaking on the Mason&Guest in Barbados on Tuesday, also suggested that because of the constant caustic criticisms, the current players are reluctant to reach out to them for guidance.
Chief among the critics is former fast-bowler Andy Roberts, who just last month, was critical of the West Indies captain, especially after the recent tour of New Zealand where the West Indies lost by an innings in each of the two Test matches.
“I think Jason Holder as a captain on the field is lost,” Roberts said. “I don’t think he’s aware what is going on the field because if I win a toss as a captain and before lunch on a green top pitch I am having a man on the point boundary then I am lost.
“That’s the first thing. His field placing [leaves] a lot to be desired and I believe the time should come where he takes instructions from the coaches who can see the game better than he can.”
Holder responded to those comments and others that have been levelled at him over the past few years since he was appointed captain.
“My disappointment with people like Andy Roberts, I respect them to what they contribute to the game but as former players who done so well, I am sure they have positive contributions to make to West Indies cricket but why go on these platforms and constantly criticize and degrade the product of West Indies cricket?” Holder lamented to host Andrew Mason.
“I feel the former legends comments on West Indies cricket, 99 per cent of the time is negative and when it is an opportunity for them to give encouragement or congratulate players is like they are trying to pick their teeth to find the words, it’s like a hard thing to do.
“As a society in the Caribbean we find it so easy to criticize and we always know the problem but when asked the solution, it’s mind-boggling, people always struggle to find the solutions.”
Holder laid some of the blame for the challenges faced by current players squarely at the feet of the former players citing the fact that because of the constant negative feedback players are reluctant to seek guidance from the former players.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion and the legends, who I respect them for their contribution, I think they can do a lot more into opening up that relationship with players,” he said. “Lots of players frown upon speaking to the legends because they are not approachable.
“We know we are not the greatest side but it would warm my heart to have a conversation with Andy Roberts but it’s often him being critical to the current crop. Pick up the phone and offer that support. I think they need to do a lot better to build the relationship with current players and I think they have a lot to offer to West Indies cricket."
He also expressed his satisfaction that players are keen to represent the West Indies once more.
The former fast bowler was speaking on the Mason and Guest show in Barbados on Tuesday.
He said he has been told that the year-old CWI administration had set up committees to get some key things done but most importantly, he said there were good signs for West Indies cricket following the emergence of talented players such as Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope.
"Another thing that I am happy with is that youngsters are now looking forward to representing the Windies again, and everybody is now making themselves available again, which is important," he said.
"I see light at the end of the tunnel because I see talent. Once there is talent, there has to be light at the end of the tunnel. Those three guys are three of the most talented I have seen in the last three to four years. When I look at cricketers, I look at who can make other teams around the world, and those three guys can make most other teams."
Holding was speaking from the Cayman Islands where he is currently during the global pandemic that has shut down sports across the globe.
Rowe and Holder were both guests on the popular Mason and Guest sports talk show in Barbados on Tuesday night.
Rowe, 71, played 30 Tests for the West Indies between 1972 and 1980 scoring 2047 runs at an average of 43.55. In 1974, while playing against England in Barbados, Rowe scored a majestic 302 in a mammoth West Indies score 596 for 8.
However, injury, deteriorating eyesight and an allergy to grass ended what promised to be an even greater career.
On Tuesday, Rowe was among guests that included Prime Ministers Ralph Gonsalves, Keith Mitchell and Mia Mottley, who engaged Holder in conversation as they celebrated the West Indies’ hard-fought four-wicket victory over England in the first Test of the #Raisethebat series played at the Ageas Stadium in Southampton.
The former West Indies batsman had some words of advice for the West Indies captain.
“I think you are batting a bit too low. I think your spot in this team is number 6, and I honestly think that you are one of the better players on the team, technically sound, you look the part and you can play the part,” said Rowe, who during his playing days was an elegant and composed right-hand bat.
“Coming 6 in the middle of the batting, if we have any problems when you get to the wicket at least we would have one of the top-five batting with you and then, if so later on down, you have the rest at the bottom.”
In response, Holder revealed that he had aspirations of moving up the order.
“I do believe I have what it takes to come up the order and bat,” said Holder who is the number-one ranked Test-match all-rounder in the world.
“I think in the not too distant future you will see me come up the order and bat.”
The West Indies will attempt to win the series when the second Test gets underway at Old Trafford on Thursday.
Captain Kraigg Brathwaite has had a welcome return to form with two Test half-centuries and a century in his last four Test matches but fellow opener John Campbell has not been inspiring much confidence with his performances.
The Jamaican has scores of 3, 23, 36, 18, 42, 11, 5, and 10 in his last four Tests. His last half-century, 68, was made in the second Test against New Zealand in December last year.
As a result, solid opening partnerships for the Caribbean side have been rare and this is a worry for Harper.
“I think it has been a concern for a while. It was pleasing to see the captain get some big scores, but we need the partnership, on the whole, to be solid,” Harper said this past week on Mason and Guest.
But while Campbell has been struggling for form, Harper acknowledges that the batsman has been working hard to correct his flaws, like the ones that saw him get out in similar fashion in all four innings in the recently concluded series against Sri Lanka.
“We were delighted to see Campbell applying himself and being more patient, but we need some more positive returns,” he said.
There are several players who could come in to bolster the batting but recent history does not offer much hope for success. Players like Shai Hope and Shayne Moseley are potential replacements; Hope especially who has shown a welcome return to form in the ODIs against Sri Lanka, but Test cricket is a different prospect for a player who has struggled in that format of the game.
Moseley, who has shown promise, is yet to demonstrate that he is ready after several failures.
“It is something we are looking at. We are looking at our best options. At the moment, from a red ball perspective, we don’t have enough openers who are knocking down the door in terms of performances,” he concluded.
Benjamin, 53, made his remarks on Mason and Guest in Barbados on Tuesday.
Gibbs, who took 309 Test wickets, while playing for the West Indies between the late 1950s and early 1970s, speaking on Mason and Guest on April 21, was critical of the current crop of spin bowlers in the Caribbean.
“They’re not spinning the ball,” he said.
Asked his thoughts on Cornwall, who has taken 13 wickets in the two Tests and 303 First-Class wickets in 62 matches, Gibbs said, “How can you take two steps and bowl? Where is your rhythm, where is that rhythm?
"As a spin bowler, you have got to use the crease, you have the return crease and you have the stumps, you have to bowl between those two.”
His comments sparked debate across the Caribbean with many, including retired fast bowling great Curtly Ambrose, coming to the defence of the giant spinner from Antigua.
On Tuesday, it was Benjamin’s turn to rush to Cornwall’s defence.
“What he spoke about for Rahkeem Cornwall was bowling off two paces. That is one of Rahkeem’s strengths. No rhythm, he hurries the batsmen, he gets through his balls quickly,” said Benjamin, who is the bowling coach for the West Indies U19 squad.
“The fact that Lance Gibbs was concerned about it just goes to show you how far out of the game Lance Gibbs is.
“Lance Gibbs is 85 years old, I don’t think he is in tune with what is going on in modern-day cricket, and he went away thinking that he was onto something but for me, he scored nought.”
Wallace, speaking on the Mason & Guest radio show Barbados on Tuesday, said the process of transformation should begin with rallying around Nicholas Pooran and Shai Hope, the stand-in captains for the upcoming limited-overs tour of Pakistan.
Pooran has been selected to captain the T20 side while Hope will captain the ODI team after the regular white-ball captain, Kieron Pollard, was ruled out of the tour with injury.
“I hope that something good can come out of Pakistan. Our captain Pollard is not going. The selectors have decided that they’re going to try two young men. We want them to rally around these young men,” said Wallace.
The former Barbados and West Indies opening batsman also reiterated that the future has to be the focus for West Indies cricket to progress.
“We have to start looking at our future in cricket. If we don’t, we’re going to forget the future and keep looking at our past. We have to aim our structure going forward. I know a lot of former cricketers don’t speak about it but I know they’re hurt,” he said.
At the end of the day, all cricket lovers in the Caribbean want the same thing, according to Wallace.
“We all have the same desire to see this great West Indies cricket product rise again but it can only rise if we in the Caribbean help lift it. Those who have ideas, come forward. There’s no secret about it, we’re struggling,” Wallace said.
Speaking on Mason & Guest radio show in Barbados on Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Gonsalves said he based his assessment on a string of poor performances from the Caribbean side and an apparent lack of development.
“On the basis of the recent performances in the T20 World Cup, the abysmally poor outcome we have had in Sri Lanka and the very mediocre performance here in the Caribbean in recent times, I think it would be fair to say that the cricket is now in a state of crisis,” said Gonsalves, who went on to say that he believes a lack of ideas for a way forward from leaders of cricket around the region continues to be a contributing factor to the demise of the game.
“What we are having here is a full-blown crisis, not a crisis of governance so much, but a crisis in the performance which is connected to governance. I see a crisis as a condition in which the principals are innocent of the extent of the condition and have no credible bundle of ideas as to the way forward,” he said.
Gonsalves said he doesn’t believe those in charge of West Indies cricket truly understand the magnitude of the situation at hand.
“Every time I hear persons speak after a poor performance, you get commentary about how we didn’t do so badly; that there are bright spots and we keep looking for them as though we have to fool ourselves as to what is taking place. I don’t think we ought to fool ourselves and I’m not so sure from what I’ve been hearing that the persons who are in charge at different levels fully grasp what is here upon us,” Gonsalves said.
The West Indies next assignment will be a limited-overs tour of Pakistan consisting of three T20 Internationals and three ODIs beginning on December 13.
The matter came to light earlier this week when Barbados Cricket Association President Conde Riley revealed that he had received a letter from the player’s attorney on the Mason and Guest sports talk show.
In May 2021, Cricket West Indies announced the players who had been retained for the next cycle and Dowrich was not among them. Dowrich, 30, last played in a Test for the West Indies from December 2-5, 2020, against New Zealand.
In the early stages of that tour, Dowrich suffered a finger injury but later asked to be released from the tour citing personal reasons. However, according to his lawyer Philip Nichols, after being given leave from the West Indies, CWI then claims that he was not offered a new retainer contract because he had not played the requisite number of games to qualify for the said contract.
This is the bone of contention for the player, who at the time when he left New Zealand, was the first-choice wicketkeeper/batsman for the West Indies.
Dowrich was subsequently replaced by Trinidad and Tobago’s Joshua da Silva, who has, for the most part, acquitted himself well representing the West Indies as its wicketkeeper/batsman.
Following the New Zealand tour, CWI failed to follow up with the player to determine whether he had managed to put his ‘personal issues' behind him and was now ready to return to representing the regional side.
Nichols tells Sportsmax.TV that his client hopes to have the matter resolved amicably as it is not his intention for the matter to end up in court.
Dowrich has played 35 Tests for the West Indies scoring 1507 runs at an average of 29.07. He has scored three hundreds and nine fifties in that time.
That is the word from Cricket West Indies CEO Johnny Grave, who remains hopeful that the tour will happen in some form of the other. If Grave has his way, the West Indies, who are currently engaged in a bio-secure three-Test #Raisethebat series in England, could be hosting South Africa as early as September.
However, he concedes Grave that there are significant obstacles to surmount.
“We have had three calls in the last seven days with our counterparts in South Africa. The plan as we are working on now is that the players will come home a week Wednesday. They will have the weekend at home. Those that are in the Caribbean Premier League will head down to Trinidad on probably the third of August; so a very quick turnaround. The CPL will then start in mid-August and go through to the 10th of September, and we hope very much that then South Africa will follow immediately after that,” Grave said while speaking on Mason & Guest in Barbados on Tuesday.
“Whether we can get the full tour in or whether we have a split tour between the Tests and T20s we don’t know.
“India are trying to get the IPL towards the back end of September – either in India which, I know is their preferred choice or in the UAE as a back-up choice, but there has been no announcement on that yet. We very much hope that South Africa will be able to come here in September for either a T20 only tour or a Test only tour, at the very least.
“And it will be dependent on the IPL. South Africa have a number of their Test players who have IPL contracts whereas this current Test team, we don’t have any IPL players in.”
Grave said the West Indies would be unable to play Test cricket during the IPL season.
“South Africa has made that very clear to us. They’ve got a commitment to their players to allow them to play in the IPL. So, at this stage we hope that that’s the case but at this stage I can’t confirm, with no flights between South Africa and the UK, which is the obvious route for them to travel,” he said.
“At the moment, it’s not something that South Africa has been able to confirm to us. But, we are talking to them regularly and we hope for good news soon.”
South Africa last visited the Caribbean in 2016 for a tri-nation series that also involved Australia.
Permaul, the 30-year-old slow left-arm orthodox spinner from Guyana, snared 50 wickets during the West Indies Championships that ended in March at an excellent average of 12.98. Speaking with Sportsmax.TV shortly after the season ended, he said he felt that the success he enjoyed would have put him closer to selection to the West Indies senior squad.
“Playing for the West Indies is always my goal every season I play,” he said, “but I wasn’t finding favour with the West Indies selectors. I don’t know how close I am to making the West Indies team, I would think after an excellent season like this one I am not far from playing for the West Indies again.”
However, according to Harper, a fellow Guyanese, Permaul’s success did not get him close enough.
“If you look at the structure of the team; the Test squad and the reserves, you realize that there are not many spinners in the party,” Harper said while speaking on the Mason and Guest talk show in Barbados on Tuesday.
“In England, we looked at the conditions you are likely to face there and the sort of bowlers we will need in the squad and (Rahkeem) Cornwall was selected as a spinner in the squad from his performance in his last Test match.
“Looking at the reserves we thought we would look at a replacement for the positions in the Test team…the panel went for the incumbent who was on the last tour.”
The decision to exclude Permaul did not go down well with Hilbert Foster President of the Berbice Cricket Board in Guyana. Permaul plays his domestic cricket in Berbice.
“The BCB would like to condemn in the strongest possible way the sick treatment being handed out to this outstanding son of Berbice and would like for an explanation to been given on his non-selection," Foster said.
"Has a decision been taken that Permaul's career is over at just 30 years old? Is there another unknown factor for his non-selection? Is he indisciplined? Is he considered just a regional bowler or is he too old?
"We deserve to know as the BCB is, without doubt, the hardest working cricket board in the Caribbean and we would not sit back and watch our cricketers being treated like a second class when they deserve better."
The 40-year-old Barbadian only took nine wickets in the five Tests he played for the West Indies between March and June 2006.
He made his debut against New Zealand in Auckland in March 2006 and played his final Test against India at Gros Islet in June that year but during his short time with the team, his passion and commitment to the team was never in question.
He is best remembered for scoring an unbeaten 34 in fading light at the Oval as he and wicketkeeper Courtney Browne mounted an unbeaten ninth-wicket partnership of 71 that lifted the West Indies from certain defeat to an unlikely victory in the 2004 Champions Cup.
Speaking on the Mason and Guest radio show in Barbados on Tuesday, Bradshaw expressed his frustration at the West Indies performance in New Zealand where they lost both Test matches by an innings and were swept by the hosts.
“Like every cricket fan I am really disappointed with the performance. We have not stood up and gave a good account of ourselves and I think that that is the most critical thing and it’s worrying the manner in which we lost the series,” he said.
“We would have seen in recent times there have been some positive steps taken in terms of our attitude and in terms of doing some of the small things better.
“I mean, you take a team like New Zealand, if we had to look at their team, maybe (they’re) not a bunch of world beaters, not the Kohli’s and the Steve Smiths that you would see dominate the headlines on other teams, but what this team has done and what we can learn so much from is that they’re doing the little things well, often and that is what we have to improve on, doing the little things well often.”
It bears noting that the West Indies only bowled New Zealand out once during the two Tests and took 17 wickets overall. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s bowlers took 38 wickets. Tim Southee was the best of the hosts’ bowlers with 12 wickets twice as many as the West Indies’ leading bowler Shannon Gabriel.
“It is not good enough that after 50 Tests or so our bowlers are not consistent enough on the first morning of a Test to be consistently putting the ball in front of the batsman,” he said.
He was equally critical of the batsmen, who failed to make any impact on the tour save for a few notable exceptions. In the second Test they also dropped seven catches, three of them off Henry Nicholls whose 174 took the match away from the visitors.
“It is not good enough that you go to New Zealand and the excuse for the batsman is that the ball is swinging. It is difficult conditions but we have been going to New Zealand for over 50 years and the conditions have not changed.
“And I appreciate the fact that New Zealand played well but I am more concerned that our performances as a professional unit was not consistent enough to merit the representation of West Indies cricket which we must hold dear.”
While speaking on Mason and Guest in Barbados on Tuesday, Gibbs expressed his disappointment at the spin bowlers currently playing in the Caribbean and was particularly critical of the much-heralded Rahkeem Cornwall.
Apparently, the 85-year-old former West Indies off-break bowler knows a bit about spin bowling. Between 1958 and 1976, Gibbs played 79 Tests for the West Indies taking 309 wickets at an average of 29.09 and enjoyed an economy rate of under two runs an over.
He was the first spinner in Test history to take 300 wickets and the second bowler behind England’s Fred Truman to do so.
His best performances came in the 1961/62 home series against India.
Over the course of five Tests, he picked up 24 wickets at just 20.41 apiece. Additionally, in one of the game's greatest spells of bowling at Bridgetown, he single-handedly reduced India from 149 for 2 to 187 all out. In 15.3 overs, Gibbs took eight wickets for just six runs to finish with figures of 8 for 38, his best Test-match haul.
Asked if he has seen any off-break bowlers in recent times who have caught his eye, Gibbs responded with an emphatic, “No!”
“They’re not spinning the ball,” he said.
Asked his thoughts on Cornwall, who has taken 13 wickets in the two Tests and 303 First-ClassWi wickets in 62 matches, Gibbs was critical of the player’s technique. “How can you take two steps and bowl? Where is your rhythm, where is that rhythm?” he asked.
“As a spin bowler you have got to use the crease, you have the return crease and you have the stumps, you have to bowl between those two. I never then had to go around the wicket to bowl, a lot because by using the crease I could get close to the stumps on the offside and still bowl and make it go on straighter instead of going around the wicket.”
Gibbs, who stood at over six feet in height, also revealed the secret of his success while playing cricket back in his heyday even while playing in a team characterized by its fast-bowling talent.
“I started as a leg spinner and I couldn’t bowl a googly,” he revealed. “I realized that with my height and with my high arm-action I am going to get bounce off any wicket in the world and if you’re getting bounce it is difficult to really hit you in the meat of the bat. It hits more higher up, and therefore you get catches all around.”
After he retired, Gibbs returned to manage the West Indies team in 1991 during their tour of England.
A swashbuckling batsman in his heyday, the now 58-year-old Antiguan played 86 Tests for the West Indies from 1983 to 1995, scoring 5949 runs at a healthy average of 44.39. During that time he scored 16 centuries 27 half-centuries. Richardson was appointed captain of the West Indies in 1991 and led the Caribbean side through 24 Tests until 1995.
Incidentally, he was captain when the West Indies relinquished the Frank Worrell trophy to Australia in 1995, which many believed triggered the start of the decline in fortunes of the West Indies.
Speaking on Mason and Guest in Barbados on Tuesday, Sir Richardson said the West Indies and the region needed to recapture some of that magic of old.
“We have to find a way to recreate a strong cricketing culture, and how we are going to do this, it’s going to take a concerted effort by the entire region,” said Sir Richardson.
“Not just cricket boards but schools, parents, communities, we all got to find a way to come together again.
“Someone has got to put something in place, someone has got to put a structure in place and I think the West Indies Cricket Board has that responsibility to put that structure in place and work with all the other stakeholders. You have to have a system from the West Indies Cricket Board right down through to school-boy cricket.”
If that can be achieved, he said, the West Indies would eventually begin to reap the benefits.
“Once we could get that going and get everybody on the same page from the grassroots going right through, I believe we can start to see a change. It is not going to be easy but I believe it can be done. Our talent is immense, our talent is immense in our genes and nobody can take that away from us,” he said.
“It is now for us to harness that talent, pull it together and find a system to bring that talent through and if we do that I can see us being competitive again.”
Since his retirement, Sir Richie Richardson has remained active in the sport.
He was appointed the West Indies' team manager for a period of two years in January 2011 and was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Nation (KCN) by the Antiguan Barbudan government on February 28, 2014.
He was appointed to the Elite Panel of Match Referees by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2015.
