Campbell down, but not out

The country reacted with anger and disgust over Sherwin Campbell's omission from a West Indies training squad from which the team to tour Zimbabwe and Kenya will be chosen. But the man at the centre of the furore remained upbeat.

Obviously, there is a chance that my days could be numbered, a modest Campbell told NATIONSPORT yesterday.

I'm not the oldest guy, but I've got to be positive and realistic, the 30-year-old opening batman added.

I have to stay positive all the time and always feel there is a chance and never give up.

The squad of 22 for the pre-tour training camp in Trinidad from May 28 to June 8 includes three specialist opening batsmen Chris Gayle, Leon Garrick and Daren Ganga along with Wavell Hinds, a regular No 3 who was asked to go in first in four Tests in the recent series against South Africa.

At no stage did any of them emphatically make a statement with consistent heavy scoring against the South Africans.

But they were preferred to a batsman whose fighting qualities are well known and who has been the West Indies' most reliable opener since Desmond Haynes left the international arena in 1995.

I am a little disappointed, but that's life and that's how things go, said Campbell, whose 51 Tests brought him 2 856 runs (ave. 32.82) and four centuries.

I've got to put it behind me and think about the future and think about ways and means of getting back into the team.

I don't think you can kill yourself over it. Of course I am disappointed, like anyone else, but it's not the end of the world.

Two-and-a-half years ago when Campbell was not picked for the West Indies' tour to South Africa, he responded with a prolific run in the 1999 Busta Cup and was immediately recalled.

You have to focus on getting back into the team and doing well to prove the selectors wrong, Campbell said.

That is my main goal to focus on my performance and think about my game some more and focus on getting scores consistently.

The Barbados captain does not feel that the pressure is on him to the extent that he has to come back and prove a point.

I just think I have to get out there and score runs and be consistent, he said.

Campbell recently returned from New York where he visited Dr Answorth Allen for an opinion on a shoulder injury he first sustained during last October's Red Stripe Bowl.

When I throw from the deep it affects me a little bit, but from close in and when I'm batting, it's fine, Campbell said.

When I throw from the deep it is not as strong as I would like it to be.

It is an injury which requires an operation and in view of his noninclusion in the West Indies training squad, he hopes to have the surgery as soon as possible.

I have not set a date as yet, but hopefully it will be very soon, he said.