Big-hitting Wallace axed from Barbados squad

BRIDGETOWN: Bowlers around the Caribbean will be breathing easier with the news that Barbados have axed big-hitting opening batsman Philo Wallace from their squad that will prepare for the Carib Beer 2004 Cricket Series, starting next month. Critics of the Barbados selection panel had insisted that either Wallace or long-time opening partner Sherwin Campbell should be dropped to make way for one of the several promising opening batsmen that have come forward in the domestic championship over the last few years. The decision to exclude Wallace from the final squad that will be encamped at the Barbados Defence Force base at Paragon from January 2 to 7 could not have been a simple or easy one for the panel led by former Barbados and West Indies fast bowler, Richard “Prof” Edwards. Wallace’s vast experience and his recent form in the second annual Arawak Cup, a competition between teams representing the four geographical regions of the island and from which the selectors pick the players for the regional competition, should have made the selection panel think long and hard.

After making his debut against Jamaica at Sabina Park 13 years ago, the former Barbados captain and West Indies opening batsman, aged 33, played 77 regional First-Class matches for the Carib Beer Series holders in which he scored 4,926 runs, an aggregate only surpassed by contemporary Stuart Williams of Leeward Islands with 5,408. In the Arawak Cup, Wallace scored 216 runs, the second highest aggregate, and boasted of the highest average of 72.00. He and fellow West Indies player Ryan Hinds were the only two batsmen to post centuries in the competition. Wallace’s omission has opened the way for either young Barbados captain Martin Nurse or his former Young Barbados teammate Mwanghi Broomes to partner Campbell, the former West Indies vice-captain, at the top of the order. Broomes and former Young Barbados leg-spin bowler Ryan Layne are the only new players in the 15-member squad that also includes Test players Courtney Browne, the captain, Tino Best, Pedro Collins, and Floyd Reifer, as well as Ryan Hurley, who played a few one-day matches for West Indies earlier this year.

In this year’s Carib Beer Series, Barbados won the Carib Beer Cup for the top territorial side and then took the Carib Beer International Challenge contested among eight teams including a West Indies-B selection and an international invitee. The Barbadians open next year’s championship against Guyana at Kensington Oval from January 9 to 12.
Barbados Squad:
Courtney Browne (captain), Sherwin Campbell (vice-captain), Sulieman Benn, Tino Best, Ian Bradshaw, Mwanghi Broomes, Pedro Collins, Ryan Hinds, Ryan Hurley, Ryan Layne, Antonio Mayers, Martin Nurse, Ryan Nurse, Floyd Reifer, Kurt Wilkinson.