No Surprises in Squad for English Tour

The West Indies squad to tour England was announced today on the recently retired (forced into retirement?) Brian Lara’s 38th birthday. Given the pool of players to choose from, it comes as no surprise that there were not any major changes from the World Cup team. However, I think the selectors made some key mistakes by the inclusion/exclusion of some players. Why is there no back-up wicketkeeper? On what basis was Sylvester Joseph selected? It certainly cannot be because of his poor performance on the A’ team tour to England last year. Darren Sammy is more suited to the one-day game. He does not strike me as a genuine batsman or bowler and someone like Ryan Hinds or Narsingh Deonarine would have been better options being authentic batsmen who also bowl well. I am also not sure why Collymore was picked. He never seems like he will take a wicket and he rarely does. I think it is time to move on with respect to Collymore. On a tour to a country that favours swing bowling, Pedro Collins would have been a more appropriate selection. Samuels deserved to be omitted based on his attitude and I would have also liked to see Chris Gayle dropped!