The legendary West Indies opener, Desmond Haynes recently became the chief selector for the men’s West Indies cricket team selection committee
Recently, during an exclusive chat with Betway, he discussed the challenges he has been facing as a selector in modern-day cricket. He talked about various topics like churning out talents, franchise cricket, identification of talent, etc.
Desmond Haynes Speaks Out His Role As The Chief Selection Of The West Indies Selection Committee
Talking about how and when he decided to start his journey as the chief selectors of West Indies, Desmond Haynes said, “Well, I was a selector for Barbados Cricket Association back in the ‘90s, so I’d already had some experience in selecting teams. They needed a lead selector, they discussed the position with me, and that is when I started thinking very seriously about it.”
Over the period, the job of a selector has become tougher with each passing day and one of the crucial roles includes identifying players from domestic cricket who are ready for taking the international step. Describing the same, Desmond Haynes opined that for him the character of a particular player is always important. Apart from talent, he feels that players need to have a good knowledge of cricket and should have a knack for learning as well.
In recent times, data analysis has reached different levels when it comes to recruiting talent, however, Desmond Haynes reckons that stats are important but at the end of the day it’s all about identifying the right talent. He feels that the stats regarding players are always considered during selections.
When asked about how much responsibility a selector takes for the performance of a player, Desmond Haynes said, “We all want the same goals, we all want to do what is right for West Indies cricket, and it’s not about any individual. We all feel that we have selected the best side to perform. If they don’t perform, then obviously we take some of the blame as well.”
Describing the role of the results in terms of team selection, Desmond Haynes explained that every player deserves sufficient to get the ball rolling and while judging a failure, one should always consider the scenarios in which the player has failed to perform. He reckons that they expect every player to perform at his best cause if he doesn’t do well, there is always someone there to replace him.
Talking about the rotation of the players, Desmond Haynes said, “I think rotation is very important, especially for fast bowlers. The tour against England that’s coming up features back-to-back-to-back Test matches. If you’ve got four fast bowlers, it’s going to be very hard for all of them to play 15 days of cricket straight up. It also allows you to give another guy a game.”
Describing the mental aspect of the sport, especially in these bio-bubble scenarios, Desmond Haynes reckoned that a player is bound to feel some mental strain, but as a professional one needs to adapt to the situations pretty well.
Talking about the effect of franchise cricket on team selections, Desmond Haynes opined that though IPL often takes place in a free window, they often get issues when other T20 tournaments are taking place.
West Indies chief selector further elaborated, “I always say to them, it is good to realize that you’ve got aspirations to get into the big leagues, but it’s also very important for you to work on becoming a good cricketer. If you do that, the financial side will look after itself. You should always try to be knowledgeable about the game, try to seek information, try to pick the brains of some of the legends and some of the senior players.”
Desmond Haynes also believes that a player needs to have the ability to play in all formats. Giving examples of teams like India and New Zealand he opined that they are managing to churn out multi-format cricketers.
When asked about the budding cricketers in the Caribbean islands, Desmond Haynes concluded, “We’re always going to have talent in the West Indies, we are just a little unfortunate that we don’t have the numbers. We can’t compare to places like Australia and India because they’ve got loads of players playing cricket, with the various academies around those countries.”
He further elaborated, “I do think it’s important for the ICC to look at finding ways that they can assist countries like West Indies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, those places with limited numbers, to try to find ways to make sure that when they split the pie, some of the smaller countries get a bit more money to help with cricket development.”
ALSO READ: Mumbai City FC Eyeing Top Four Spot Vs SC East Bengal In ISL 2022 As Test Beckons