West Indies delay sets Barbados back

The late selection of the West Indies team for the tour of Sharjah has hampered the plans of the Barbados team for the Busta Series.

Additionally, Barbados coach Hendy Springer believes one of the biggest drawbacks in West Indies cricket is the method of preparation.

Having named a 16-man squad for the Busta Series on December 28, the defending Cup champions are now uncertain over the make-up of their final XI for the first match against Guyana, starting on Friday at Kensington Oval.

The uncertainty is because five of their players are currently playing in a practice match in Trinidad, putting them in line for a place in the West Indies team, which is expected to be picked today for a short series against Pakistan.

If you don't know who you have to use, you can't make any serious plans, Springer said. It will put your plans on the back foot a bit.

You might have to bring in people who were not part of the training sessions to start with. It is unfortunate that it had to come to this.

While emphasising that a ten-day camp at the Barbados Defence Force's Paragon base served well in preparing Barbados for the forthcoming first-class championships, Springer said methods of preparation in the West Indies needed to be improved.

Apart from expertise and knowledge to pass on, the two most important things in preparation for cricket are time and money, he said.

We've got people with some brilliant ideas and programmes, but they can only come into place if people have time to be part of these programmes and there is money to support these programmes.