Current Test Captains #4: West Indies

I was going to write my first postings for each country in alphabetical order, but everything about the current state of the West Indies captaincy screams that change is about to happen.  Each day I did not post my thoughts I’ve been wondering if it would be the day the trigger gets pulled.  Maybe even today…..

Team losing?  Check.  Captain in poor form? Check.  Team seemingly listless?  Check.  Current vice-captain doing better than most players on the team?  Check. Former, somewhat disgruntled skipper still around the team?  Check.  Captain in another format untouched by the test side’s debacles?  Check.  Rumblings of disunity? Check.

Darren Sammy is about to lose his job.  I have a huge amount of admiration for what he has taken on as captain of the West Indies, and for most of his tenure the team has at least kept a lid on the process of disintegration that has been going on for decades now. If he was still consistently worth his place in the team, I’d be hoping he continues.  But it’s obvious whenever the team picks – or wants to pick – two spinners in the eleven that he can’t carry the role of second seamer, and doesn’t justify promotion into the top-seven so another seamer can.  After the first test draw in New Zealand I had hope for him but since then the only contribution Sammy made was taking catches at slip.  That’s not enough, by far.  That the savior of that game – and only batsman who pulls his weight on the team – Darren Bravo, has scuttled home after a nets bust-up with Sammy, and the doyen of Caribbean cricket writers Tony Cozier immediately penned an article about disunity on the team only adds confirmation to what all the signs are pointing to. I do expect Sammy will resign, any day now, before he gets pushed.

There is a long list of possible leaders for the next test series.  I don’t expect the current vice-captain Dinesh Ramdin to be chosen, despite him leading Trinidad in the last four-day domestic competition.  While Ramdin got his share of runs in the latest test series, he has been a frustratingly inconsistent performer and is arguably not even the best keeper in the region.  The selectors won’t add the captaincy burden to him, and he will probably not begrudge it while he’s still fighting for a place on the team.

I also don’t expect the former captain Chris Gayle to return, although this is also a possibility.  Gayle has been plying his wares seemingly to all the 20-over leagues in the world, with his absence from the test line-up when it does clash with a league sometimes covered by flimsy injury excuses, almost like a test bowler who can no longer take the strain of the longer format (read:  Malinga).  I doubt Gayle actually wants to come back as captain, but the team still needs him as an opener and perhaps the way for the selectors to get B is to give A.  But my instincts are they have moved on from Gayle, just as they have moved on from another former captain, Sarwan (and Ganga before him).

But they may be cycling back around to yet another former-captain Dwayne Bravo.  The telling sign was Bravo taking the ODI captaincy, from Sammy, but with Sammy still in the team.  There might be space for two modest allrounders in the ODI format – actually there’s space for several more – but not in the test team.  If Sammy plays in the test team, just from the perspective of balance Bravo can’t and I think the reverse is also true.  Bravo may or may not be a better bowler than Sammy, but he’s definitely a better prospect than Sammy (or Ramdin) to hold down the number six spot as a batsman.  That allows the team to field two spinners, and still have three fast/seam options on the team.  Bravo’s first comments on landing in New Zealand were confirmation to me that he too knows what is up.  Until then, I thought Bravo was fully committed to the Gayle-trail of Twenty-20 games worldwide.  Now I think he’d be happy to come back to the team as test captain too. 

If not DJ Bravo who? The only settled batsmen recently have been his half-brother Darren, and Kirk Edwards (who captains Barbados) but both have had time out of the team recently.  Edwards is an outside shot if the selectors can’t reconcile to either Bravo or Gayle returning.   Marlon Samuels might have been a long-shot too but his latest sanction for throwing, and sudden loss of the golden batting form he was in, adds uncertainties to an already uncertain role.  Chanderpaul has side-lined himself from the job, saying he did not enjoy being captain before.   

I do expect Ramdin to continue as vice-captain under whoever comes as Sammy’s successor – this is often the role of a keeper in any team. None of the bowlers are stringing together more than a few tests at a time, and none can therefore be considered as a potential captain. Some of the other limited-overs specialists already play under the captaincy of Bravo so it would be a little bizarre for one to be elevated over him into the test team.  And among the four-day competition’s captains last season are lots of non-test players including Sebastian (Windwards), Corbin (CCC), Bernard (Jamaica), Joseph (Leewards), and Permaul (Guyana).  None are ready for the regional team’s leadership job, or even a place on the regional team.