Source: Trinidad Daily Express
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr Kishore Shallow has defended the body’s selection system but said the model will be reviewed after the upcoming World Cup and before the end of the year.
Speaking on the Mason and Guest programme on the Voice of Barbados Tuesday, Dr Shallow said the board had agreed to let the system — which has the head coach as the principal selector — run for a period before making any judgment.
“We did say that we are committed to reviewing that at some point,” he said. “As a board, we made a decision that we are going to give it a try. We are going to see if it works, and we’re going to have a point where we review it as well.”
Shallow acknowledged concerns over vesting overall selection responsibility with the head coach — currently Daren Sammy — but rejected the idea that the process is dependent on one person.
“I believe if there is more socialisation of how the system works, people will realise it is not just Daren Sammy or (women’s coach) Shane (Dietz) selecting. It is a very comprehensive system with different experts informing the final decisions,” he said, while also conceding that “nothing we do is cast in stone, including the selection system that we have established.”
He also argued that wider structural issues — the player pool, development pathways and infrastructure — explain West Indies’ inconsistent results more than the selection model itself.
“I won’t blame the selection system. I blame our overall production line and production system and infrastructure,” Shallow said, adding that players must “return the level of investment we are making in them.”
Since Sammy became coach for all formats and was given the final say on team selection in April last year, West Indies have lost seven of eight Tests, with one draw; won four of 11 One-Day Internationals (one no-result) and won seven and lost ten T20 Internationals.
Dr Shallow stressed: “We are committed as well to reviewing [the selection system] and ensuring that it is producing what we want, with the limited players that we have in the pool who we are to choose from.”
Conflict of interest claim addressed again
Dr Shallow also again addressed public criticism of his simultaneous roles as Cabinet minister in St Vincent and the Grenadines and CWI president. Former West Indies wicketkeeper Deryck Murray has urged Shallow to step aside, arguing that the dual role raises governance questions.
However, the CWI president insisted again that he can serve as a government minister while remaining CWI’s leader,
Shallow rejected suggestions of an unavoidable conflict, saying the presidency of CWI is not a full-time executive role and that similar arrangements exist elsewhere.
“There is the misconception that being the president of CWI is a full-time job. I am the chair of a board… “My approach generally as a chairman is that I should empower the executive management,” he said, noting that he had sought guidance from counterparts who hold political office while serving on cricket boards. “I am very confident that I am capable of doing so.”