Perry defends team selection in St Kitts
JAMAICA’S chairman of selectors’, Nehemiah Perry, has defended the decision to replace big fast bowler Andrew Richardson with the more experienced Daren Powell for the regional first-class second-round match against the Leeward Islands last week in St Kitts.
Richardson went wicketless in the first innings of the opening game against the Windward Islands at Chedwin Park, while in the second innings he took just one wicket when he clean-bowled the dangerous Devon Smith
for nought.
Powell, who missed out on a place in the 13-man squad for that game due to suspension, consequently took one wicket in each innings as defending champions Jamaica easily defeated the Leewards by seven wickets a week later.
“In terms of pace and experience, Daren got the nod over him, that’s basically it. Andrew didn’t make a massive impact in the game at Chedwin Park, (and) went for some runs. And when you look at the kind of pitch down there (in St Kitts) and see… Daren Powell would extract perhaps a bit more from that sort of pitch,” said Perry.
The former Jamaica and West Indies off-spinner, while admitting Richardson may have been underused in that first match, said given the team’s recent success with spinners and a one quick to partner the medium pace of David Bernard Jr, the selectors had to choose between the two.
“If you look at how Jamaica has been dominating in terms of spinners, they have been doing the work for us the last three or four years. The pacers have been underbowled, I think.
“It’s probably something that we need to look at,” Perry said, adding that: “the kind of wickets we’re playing on are not conducive to… ‘out and out’ fast bowlers. They’ve been flat for batting, so the spinners would get a lot more bowling than a fast bowler,” he told the Observer.
Asked to compare the performances of the two quicks so far, Perry said Powell was more inclined to get an early wicket or two to set the opponents back.
“If you watch Powell’s progress over the years he always seems to pick up one or two (wickets) in his first spell. And based on reports we received, he performed very well and with a little more luck, he probably could have picked up three or four wickets,”
he stated.
Perry said it is possible both players may feature in the team which starts against the Guyanese in Barbados tomorrow.
“We’re going into Barbados where a lot more pace may be down there, so you might see three faster bowlers playing in that game,” he said.
He insists that though Richardson may be disappointed, he should be ready mentally if called upon to play in that game.
“I’d be disappointed if I was Andrew Richardson because he was in the West Indies squad to England (last year) and didn’t play any (Tests), so he would want to make his mark to keep knocking at the door of the selectors.
“At the end of the day, you have to show resilience and guts and fight and come back,” he said.