Good move, JCA selectors

Sometimes in the past I have criticised the selectors for what I considered a mistake here and there, and some-times in the past I have also criticised the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), again for what, to me, were obvious mistakes.

Today, however, and for what I consider a good and a bold move, I have nothing but praise for both the selectors and for the association's directors.

Instead of following the norm and selecting Christopher Gayle, the man who has been the captain of the West Indies for the past few years, to captain Jamaica during the coming Caribbean T20 tournament, the selectors recommended that Tamar Lambert, the acting captain on so many occasions, be the new captain, and the directors of the JCA accepted the recommendation.

The fans

With Gayle serving as the West Indies captain up to the regional team's last engagement, many fans believe he should automatically lead Jamaica once he is available. In other words, if he is good enough to captain the West Indies, he should be good enough to captain Jamaica.

Obviously, however, neither the selectors, the majority of them, nor the association's directors agree with that view point, and after thinking about it for a while, neither do I.

And I agree with the selectors and the JCA directors for a few simple reasons.

In the West Indies, a player is not selected to captain the West Indies team simply because he is a good captain. In the West Indies, the captain has to earn his place as a player, and if that was not the case, someone like Daren Ganga probably would have long been captain of the West Indies.

In the West Indies, therefore, a player can be the best captain in the region but cannot be the captain of the West Indies. That same player, however, based on performance with bat and ball or with both, can get into a territorial team, and if he does, why should he not be given the opportunity to captain the team?

Obvious reasons

According to some fans of the game, Gayle is the West Indies captain. Up to when Lambert was selected, Gayle was the Jamaica captain, and he should not have been dumped as the Jamaica captain.

According to them, it is also infra dig for Gayle, the West Indies captain, to be led by someone while representing Jamaica.

Apart from the fact that the West Indies Board has said in the past that the West Indies captain is selected series by series or tour by tour, apart from the fact that the same applies for Jamaica where the captain is selected before every series or every season, there are some obvious reasons why, at this time, Lambert should be the captain of Jamaica instead of Gayle.

Apart from his outstanding record over the years when acting as the captain - a record that includes one season when the team won every match under his leadership and lost almost every match when the official captain and the "stars" returned, Lambert seems better suited as Jamaica's captain.

Sometimes, for example, Gayle appears too "cool" for the good of the team. Sometimes, it appears, he is so "cool" he appears disinterested in what is going on around him.

Difficult to forget

Even if we remember that it is easier for Jamaica to win in regional cricket than for this West Indies team to win in Test cricket, it is difficult to forget some of Gayle's indiscretions.

Lest we forget, it was Gayle who, a few seasons ago, left Jamaica to play a final while he played in some benefit match elsewhere.

Lest we forget, it was Gayle, the captain of the West Indies, who was quoted as saying that Test cricket was dying, that he preferred the shorter version of the game, and that he really did not want to captain the West Indies team but was encouraged so to do.

Lest we forget, Gayle, the captain of the team, once turned up the day before the start of the first Test match in a series in England, and lest we forget, it was Gayle, who, a couple years ago, after returning to lead the team with the team doing well under Lambert and leading in the competition, asked the selectors, without success, to let Lambert continue as the captain.

Based on his performance whenever he has captained Jamaica, Lambert deserves the honour of being named captain of Jamaica, especially now that, based on his performance with the bat and with the ball as a part-time off-spin bowler, he merits a place on the team.

It must be uncomfortable to be the captain of the West Indies and to be removed as the captain of Jamaica, and regardless of the circumstances, regardless of how cool he is, Gayle must be peeved, and despite his earlier indiscretions, understandably so.

All is well that ends well, however, and with Gayle in the team and showing that he is big enough to play under Lambert, everything seems OK.

Lambert is the captain of the team: Gayle, the ideal batsman for Twenty20 cricket, is in the team, and with batsmen like Xavier Marshall, Danza Hyatt, Marlon Samuels, Wavell Hinds, Brenton Parchment, and Carlton Baugh Jnr, and with bowlers like David Bernard Jnr, Andrew Richardson, Andre Russell, Krishmar Santokie, Nikita Miller and Odean Brown, that means that Jamaica, even with Jerome Taylor out of action, will be at their best as they go hunting.