Scramble to fill void (26 April 1999)

26 April 1999

Scramble to fill void

Philip Spooner

THE WEST INDIES selectors have the job of finding a replacement in short time to fill the gap left by the retirement of all-rounder Carl Hooper.

Three players, Barbadians Roland Holder and Philo Wallace, and Antiguan Dave Joseph, are the ones who seem closest to the pick for the World Cup starting in two weeks in England.

Holder, the Barbados captain who bats in the middle order, could be topping the list mainly because of his experience in One-Day cricket.

The 31-year-old right-hander has been in West Indies teams since late 1994 and has played 37 matches with a moderate average of 23.96 per innings.

Joseph, a powerful right-hander, has not yet played at the One-Day level, but is known to be a firm hitter and is filled with confidence, as was seen in the four Tests he played against Australia earlier this year.

Wallace, a powerful opener, is already likely to be in England playing for Sunderland in the Vaux Durham League.

He has been off the boil recently on the South African tour and the Busta Cup, but the selectors might remember his heroics in the Mini World Cup in Bangladesh last year.

The team is already stocked with options to open the innings - Sherwin Campbell, Ridley Jacobs, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Stuart Williams - and Wallace may miss out here.

Two players who would be high on some lists would be Barbadian all-rounders Vasbert Drakes and Ottis Gibson, who missed the regional domestic season because of their South African contracts.

But that would depend on whether they meet the West Indies Board's disputed eligibility rules.

Others such as young Jamaican all-rounders Wavell Hinds, Ricardo Powell and Chris Gayle could come into reckoning, but their inexperience could work against them in such a high-pressure tournament.

Neil McGarrell and Keith Semple, the two Guyanese who failed on the South African trip, are considered long shots.

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)