Photo: West Indies coach Phil Simmons
A lot of persons rose to commend coach Phil Simmons on his honesty and openness to the West Indies public, following his public criticism and displeasure of the selection process of the current West Indies 50 over team selected for the tour of Sri Lanka, implying, there was outside influence on the selection process.
The man who took charge of the Windies team, post his reign at the helm of the Ireland team in March 2015, was obviously not satisfied with the the omissions of all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard from the one-day squad.
“It’s disappointing from the fact that I haven’t got the best 50-over ODI squad that we can select,” he revealed to the media last week Friday.
He even went on to disclose how the five man selection panel wager their votes. This was not taken with good taste by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) who through a release on Tuesday morning said that Simmons’ comments appeared to “question the legitimacy of the selection process. As a result, the management of the WICB has taken action to suspend the head coach, pending an investigation into the issue.
Eldine Baptiste, a member of the selection panel, has given the mantle for the October tour of Sri Lanka.
It is being speculated that the players that were omitted based on their part in the 2014 aborted tour of India.
The questions about and call for selection have been echoed not only by coach Simmons, but also the newly appointed West Indies Captain Jason Holder.
A report coming forward is that Simmons will see legal action regarding his fate and awaits a ruling on his way forward with West Indies cricket.
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