Sir Viv: Trust selectors judgement

CASTRIES: Chairman of the West Indies selectors, Sir Vivian Richards has stoutly defended his panel’s decision to name relatively unknown Barbadian fast bowler Fidel Edwards in the West Indies squad for the second Test against Sri Lanka starting in Jamaica today.

Noting team selection is all about instincts, Richards pleaded with Caribbean cricket fans to trust the judgement of his fellow selectors, Joey Carew, Gordon Greenidge and West Indies captain Brian Lara. “I was very very impressed when I first saw him (Edwards) at the Academy in Grenada and there are a few people who did say a few things about him. There are a few scouts around who did say their little bits about that individual,” Richards said in a wide-ranging interview at the Beausejour Cricket Ground on Tuesday. “This is what selection is all about if we are looking to rebuild and maybe to move forward in future,” added Sir Vivian. Edwards, 21, a younger brother of discarded West Indies’ left-arm pacer Pedro Collins, has only played one first-class match but the “Master Blaster” recalled that former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop also came on the scene as a virtual unknown.