Regional conflicts mar Busta Cup

Regional cricket associations have been knocked for seemingly withholding their best players from representing the West Indies 'B' team in the Busta Series.

Additionally, team captain Roland Holder feels the cream of the regional Under-23s, with the exception of Test players, should be made to play for the 'B' team if it is to make a greater impact.

A lot of the territories need to be honest in their nominations for the 'B'team if it is going to serve the purpose for which it is intended, the experienced former Barbados batsman told NATIONSPORT yesterday.

We had a couple of players who could not make their national trials or, in the case of one or two from the Leewards and Windwards, who could not make their national side.

It was Holder's forthright view that a player who is put forward to represent the West Indies 'B' team should be someone who is on the verge of making his national team.

I think most territories have selected their 16, kept the best of the reserves and then sent basically what has not been a true representation of this team.

As a reference, he pointed to Guyana fast bowler Reon Griffith who was kept in their 13-man squad for the first five matches. Griffith did not play a single match and was only released to the 'B' team for the sixth round.

I know all the territories want to win . . . [but] it is all about the development of West Indies' cricket, said the 34-year-old Holder, who played successfully for Barbados in regional competition between 1986 and 2001.

In cases like that, I think we need to be honest with ourselves.

West Indies 'B', which is participating in the Busta Series for the second successive year, are languishing at the bottom of the table ahead of their final match against Barbados, starting tomorrow at Kensington Oval.

However, there have been encouraging signs, among them centuries from Guyanese Krishna Arjune and debutant Donovan Pagon.

For a team which has passed 250 in six of their 11 innings and has only been dismissed for fewer than 200 on one occasion, four defeats in six matches might not been an accurate reflection of their performance.

Defeats will always be defeats. It means that you didn't play better or as well as the opposition, Holder said.

We have been batting reasonably well consistently. We have scored on average 500 runs per game.

The only problem is that we tend to score most of those runs in the second innings. By then it's usually playing catch-up cricket.

Holder described the overall performance of the team as indifferent.

It is very difficult under this present structure to get the sort of results you are looking for granted I've seen lots of improvements in all of these players, he said.

What needs to happen is that the WICB (West Indies Cricket Board) decides that the best Under-23 side, excluding those who have played Test cricket, be selected to play as this team.

Under such a proposal, promising players such as prolific Windward Islands opener Devon Smith, West Indies youth captain Narsingh Deonarine, Barbadian fast bowler Tino Best and fellow pacer Darren Powell of Jamaica would have to play for the West Indies 'B' ahead of their national sides.