Same old story with the Barbados team

Richard Edwards is strongly hinting that the core of the Barbados team for the forthcoming Red Stripe Bowl will be mainly experienced players who have represented the country for most of the last decade.

A host of young, exciting talent has emerged in recent months, but the new chairman of selectors said yesterday that a limited-overs tournament was not the ideal place to allow such talent to develop.

For this type of cricket, you are not really looking to blood players. You are looking to get a strong side and try to win the thing, Edwards said on the eve of the selection of Barbados' 14-man squad.

The four-day game is more conducive to bringing players forward and hope that they would develop.

Edwards added, however, that he and his fellow selectors would not ignore the claims of any inexperienced player.

If you get a couple of youngsters impressing and pushing their way into it, obviously they would be considered. (But) you would have to look at this as something you want to win. You are not looking to blood players.

Many fans have said this is the time for experienced players like Philo Wallace, Adrian Griffifth, Floyd Reifer, Courtney Browne, Hendy Bryan and Dave Marshall to be discarded to make way for uncapped youngsters like Kurt Wilkinson, Sulieman Benn, Alcindo Holder, Dwayne Smith, Martin Nurse and Jason Bennett.

Nothing could be more demoralising for a country or individuals than to just go and get beaten out of the Park, Edwards said.

We are going to bring some youngsters in wherever we can and if you have some youngsters who are bowling well or batting well, we are going to try and get them in.

The selection panel will have a final look at the players at Weymouth today in a third successive trial match before meeting to pick the squad for the October 2-15 competition.

Edwards conceded there was not much that impressed him in the matches at Queen's Park on Tuesday and at Kensington Oval yesterday though he was impressed by the fighting half-century from Ryan Hinds on Tuesday.

He reckoned that the surface at the Oval yesterday was a little lively.

Only one batsman Jason Parris seemed to come to terms with it. It had a lot of turn and bounce for the spinners and fast bowlers.

Edwards added that the selectors were hoping to have the Barbados squad play two practice matches next week.