Haynes says door remains open to World Cup aspirants
While noting that Twenty20 (T20) International series ahead of the World Cup offer the opportunity for West Indies players to stake their claims, lead selector Desmond Haynes says the upcoming Caribbean Premier League (CPL) could influence squad selection.
West Indies, currently engaged in a three-match T20 series against New Zealand in Jamaica, lost 0-3 away to India in a T20 series in February.
Last month they beat Bangladesh 2-0 in the three-match home series, followed by a 1-4 loss to India in five matches staged in the Caribbean and Florida.
“We’ve had three or four competitions that we’ve been involved in and we believe this group of guys we must give them a chance,” Haynes said during a press conference on Tuesday.
“We are not going to say everybody playing these series will be playing in the World Cup, but we have to give these guys the opportunity,” he added in reference to the T20 global showpiece scheduled for October to November in Australia.
He said the West Indies team has gone through almost a constant rotation of personnel and tweaking of batting line-ups because of unavailability of some prominent players in addition to the absence of others due to injury.
“We had to experiment a little because of injuries, because of logistics, because of a lot of things that have happened the last couple of tours, but I would say we’re on our way… we are still hoping that guys who perform well can put up their name of the World Cup,” Haynes said.
The chief selector said the CPL presents the final window for players to impress.
“If you’ve got a competition and somebody is playing well, I think his name should really come up for selection, so I think performance is very important to us. We did not say we have picked the World Cup team, so all the games leading up to the World Cup we must take them into consideration,” Haynes explained.
— Sanjay Myers