FOLLOWING recent changes to the Cricket West Indies (CWI) selection policy, former West Indies and Barbados batsman Philo Wallace says he’s worried about the future of the men’s team, suggesting that the squad’s quality may continue to suffer as a result.

After CWI opted not to renew the contract of lead selector Desmond Haynes, which expired in June, Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe announced in September that they would be moving in a more data-driven approach.

The new process will include a senior talent manager from each of the six territories in the region collating data on players and then advising the head coaches of the West Indies red-ball (Test) or white-ball (One-Day International and Twenty20) teams.

Bascombe, at a CWI quarterly media conference in Antigua last month, said: “What we aim to do is to take the engine room of the selection system back to where the talent resides, which is in the territories.”

However, Wallace told the Jamaica Observer that the new system is flawed and could create unnecessary issues.

“If you’re telling me the lead selector from each franchise is going to be a scout to look at cricketers on behalf of CWI to recommend players, I think there’s going to be a lot of bias, a lot of ill treatment, and it’s not going to be a good balance,” he said.

“Then you have the man with the final decision [who] is the coach, which is biased in itself. If I recommend a player who the coach isn’t in favour of, then that player is not going to be selected and [he will] select the player who he believes is the man for the job.”

Wallace, who played seven Tests and 33 One-Day Internationals for West Indies between 1991 and 2000, believes players will not be as motivated to perform under the new process.

“In my era of playing, when you heard a selector was at a match you used to pull up your socks, push in your shirt, and you want to do your best because a West Indies selector is looking at the game — and if you perform you can catch his eye and get involved in the mix. When you hear a scout is coming to watch and the scout has no clout, the players are just going through the motions. A selector had more clout, more purpose, and more meaning.”

Recently, Bascombe also revealed that players can be selected for the West Indies without playing in the Regional Super 50 or the four-day tournament. Speaking to Trinidad & Tobago’s Guardian newspaper, he says the old policy “could not stand up to the current intensity of cricket schedules”.

Wallace, though, says the decision will ultimately backfire as players will not be as committed.

“You need to narrow down what you want to do with some of these players. If you don’t, players are going to take advantage of it. Yes, the players have power but I think if you’re the governing body of a sport you still have to have some control over what your players are doing,” he said.

“You’re saying to the franchises, ‘Look, if a guy doesn’t play for you and goes away and plays cricket, we’ll still pick him.’ You’re undermining everything that was set up a couple years ago by [former CWI President] Dave Cameron and you’re saying it can’t work, but it was working.

“Our players had to come and perform in our regional competitions to gain selection, and it worked because playing for West Indies should be the ultimate goal for any young cricketer.”

Wallace believes successful former West Indies players should be involved in key decision-making.

“CWI needs to set up a cricket committee with six former cricketers and let them sit and discuss cricket and try to come up with solutions to help solve our problems. We don’t have proper fast bowlers, our batsmen are struggling, we can’t produce proper captains — these are things that need to be addressed,” he stressed.

“We have former greats who are still alive and were successful in those areas so why don’t we tap into that knowledge base instead of telling me about data and statistics? Why don’t we get the human beings who have done it, who have been in the wars and trenches of West Indies cricket and what they can recommend to help our cricketers to develop holistically, rather than making wholesale changes to a system that I believe can still work?”

The Windies, without a number of leading players, are currently involved in a white-ball series away to Sri Lanka. The visitors lost 1-2 in the T20 series and trail 0-2 in the three-match ODI series.

West Indies are set to host long-time rivals England in three ODIs and five T20s, beginning on October 31.