BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):<\/p>\n
In a stunning and brutally frank critique on the popular Mason and Guest radio show, two respected former West Indies figures have launched a scathing attack on Cricket West Indies (CWI) for reportedly considering asking Nicholas Pooran to reverse his international retirement for the upcoming T20 World Cup.<\/p>\n
The comments from former selector Roland Butcher and former opener Philo Wallace condemned the very idea as \u201cdivisive\u201d, \u201ca dangerous precedent\u201d, and a move that would \u201ctear that team apart\u201d.<\/p>\n
Butcher, known for his measured analysis, did not mince words. \u201cI would not be bending over backwards chasing that player to come in to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that he\u2019s retired suggests that he doesn\u2019t want to play. If he doesn\u2019t want to play, well, that\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
He argued passionately that such a move undermines the entire squad ethos. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt sets a dangerous precedent for the rest of the team and for any young player coming forward,\u201d Butcher explained. \u201cYou\u2019re going to go chase (a retired player) to select them in front of a young player who is really desperate to play and working his socks off to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
His most damning assessment was reserved for the potential locker-room impact. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is divisive, and it will tear that team apart. Get by with the best that you have, but you don\u2019t tear the whole unit apart because of a few people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Philo Wallace echoed and reinforced Butcher\u2019s sentiments with equal force. \u201cI would not ask Pooran to come and play for the West Indies again. If a man retires, he retires. If you\u2019re retiring from international cricket, that means you don\u2019t want to play international cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wallace questioned the very foundation of the selection system, whether it must resort to recalling retired players. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t be so bad at selecting players that we can go ask Pooran if he wants to come and play in a World Cup. It doesn\u2019t look good for West Indies cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pointed to the wealth of active, striving talent across the region as the rightful pool for selection. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou have players who have played all around the world, who are looking to make a mark, to get in the eyes of coach (Daren) Sammy. I think you need to give those players a chance. If their performances merit selection, they should be selected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both agreed the reported approach sets a \u201cbad precedent\u201d, with Wallace adding that the official responsible \u201cshould take stock of themself and not repeat it\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC): In a stunning and brutally frank critique on the popular Mason and Guest radio show,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-372103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}