What happened to Powell? (2 June 1999)

2 June 1999

What happened to Powell?

Fitzroy Prendergast

Local cricket officials Easton McMorris, Brian Breese and Maurice Foster have expressed great disappointment with the West Indies' performance in the World Cup and particularly the treatment of Ricardo Powell.

The West Indies were eliminated from cricket's greatest tournament on Monday when New Zealand trounced Scotland to get their Nett Run Rate past the West Indies, who were soundly beaten by Australia the previous day.

McMorris, a vice-president of the Jamaica Cricket Board, said the West Indies' exit from the event in England came as no surprise.

"The West Indies do not have the strength to challenge the top teams in a competition of this nature," McMorris said.

"The toss played a big part in the loss to Australia. I thought that if the West Indies had won the toss they would have been competitive. However, there cannot be any excuse for the poor batting display," he said.

McMorris also expressed his displeasure that young Jamaican batsman Powell was not given more opportunity to play in the Cup.

"I am amazed that Powell was not given more opportunity to play. We were all elated when he was selected but he did not get enough opportunity to parade his talent, especially against the lesser teams. In probably the next one to two years, people might not remember that he went to the World Cup," McMorris said.

With regards to the persistence of the selectors with Phil Simmons and Keith Arthurton, McMorris said the choices in the region were limited.

"I know the Jamaican public was not keen on the selection of Simmons and Arthurton for the World Cup, especially after Arthurton's performance in the last World Cup but if you look at both players performance in the English County Championships and the regional competition respectively, they were doing well and that why is why the selectors stuck with them for the World Cup," McMorris said.

Breese, treasurer of the local board, said he expected the West Indies to advance to the second stage.

"I am very disappointed with the performance of the team. I was expecting them to reach the Super Six but with such poor batting, obviously they could not have reached that far."

Breese blamed the selectors for some of the regional team's current problems.

"They continue to pick people who have been failing. I am also very disappointed in the way they used Ricardo Powell. After he played in the first game, they could have used him more because they brought back players who had failed already," Breese said.

"I think the selectors are short-sighted. I thought he was used as a lamb to the slaughter."

Foster, a member of the West Indies Board, said the team's performance was indicative of their overall standing in world cricket.

"We have to accept the fact the West Indies are in a rebuilding stage. When you look at the team, we only have one batsman that can dominate and that is Brian Lara. That cannot be good. In the bowling department we depend solely on (Curtly) Ambrose and (Courtney) Walsh and there lies our problem.

"In the New Zealand game, there were signs that certain aspects of our cricket had improved, however, the lack of quality of the batsmen continues to be our downfall," Foster said.

"I would have hoped that the selectors would have given Powell some more exposure in England. I am not one that quickly criticises selectors because they have to choose from what is available but certainly there was an opportunity to play Powell in the Scotland and Bangladesh games so that he could gain the necessary experience at the international level."

Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)