One keeper a big mistake hitting out

Ridley Jacobs is a lucky man.

From the time the West Indies selectors announced their squad of 16 in May and included only one specialist wicketkeeper for the long tour of England, there was a big hullabaloo.

Why was Courtney Browne not in as second-string wicketkeeper? What about Junior Murray? Some were even mentioning the names of the youngsters Vishal Nagamootoo and Wayne Philip.

It was major talk around the region in every rum shop, street corner, and business house.

In their defence, the selectors identified Jimmy Adams and Wavell Hinds as the two who would relieve Jacobs whenever he needed to be rested for the many first-class matches during the tour.

Many were shocked. And they had reason to be. Adams has hardly kept wicket for the last three years because of knee problems, while Hinds has only been known to have done so on a couple of occasions for his club in Jamaica.

A few days after the team left for England, it was announced that 22- year-old Philip had joined the MCC playing staff on attachment and the selection committee had endorsed his availability for the West Indies team as the tour managers saw fit.

It was clearly pointed out, however, that he was not an official member of the West Indies touring party and would be available for tour matches other than Tests and One-Day Internationals.

By not picking another specialist wicketkeeper, one can assume that the selectors were saying that Jacobs was virtually guaranteed a place in the team for each of the five Tests and a maximum of nine One-Day Internationals.

Jacobs did little in the first two Tests and the NatWest One-Day series. Should he continue to perform disappointingly, will Adams or Hinds be asked to take his place behind the stumps? I doubt it.

Everyone will acknowledge that Jacobs made a sterling contribution on his entry to the team on the ill-fated tour of South Africa in 1998 and sustained it to some extent when Australia came to the Caribbean last year.

His recent form with the bat, however, has been scratchy and his wicketkeeping has also been on the decline, especially during the trination limited-overs series that involved England and Zimbabwe.

It is his batting that is causing the most worry. While he was good enough to score 460 runs and average 32.85 in his first nine Tests, his last nine Tests have produced only 131 at an average of 10.07.

His scores from the Christmas tour of New Zealand to the recent Lord's Test were, in chronological order: 5, 2, 19 not out, 20, 10, 0, 27, 6, 10, 0, 5, 5, 10, 12. Unkind fans will suggest you can use some of those numbers for tonight's Mega Six draw.

Surely, a player with such a recent record must not be allowed to have an unchallenged place for as long as three months. Others with similar records were discarded in the past.

History also shows that the West Indies have always picked two specialist glovemen for tours of England during the last 25 years. In 1995, Murray and Browne were chosen; Jeffrey Dujon and David Williams were carried in 1988 and 1991; Dujon and Thelston Payne in 1984; Derryck Murray and David Murray in 1980; and Derryck Murray and Mike Findlay in 1976.

This time around, only one keeper was picked a big mistake, I dare say.