Simmons: No one will play for WI
Wednesday, June 8 2016
West Indies Twenty20 star Lendl Simmons believes no one will play for the West Indies in the Test and One-Day International formats unless the selection policy implemented by Richard Pybus is changed. In an interview on ESPNcricinfo, Simmons poured scorn on the policy which states that players must participate in the regional tournaments to be eligible for selection in the respective format of the game for the Windies.
Simmons, Chris Gayle, Samuel Badree, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell and Darren Sammy were all ommitted from the Windie steam currently in a Tri-Nation Series with Australia and South Africa as a result of the rule after competing in the Big Bash League in Australia instead of the NAGICO Super50 tournament earlier this year.
“It’s just foolish,†Simmons said in the ESP Ncricinfo interview.
“We are available to play but we are not being picked. It’s just a stupid rule that they have. Unless that rule changes, no one will play for the West Indies, because I don’t think anyone is going to give up franchise cricket to play regional cricket when the fees are not suitable enough. A lot of other teams’ players don’t play in their domestic [competitions] but still play for their country. This is not the same for us, but such is life.†While wishing West Indies well, Simmons warns that “we could embarrass ourselves because Australia and South Africa are not coming here with their ‘A’ teams.
They are coming here with their full teams.†Simmons is unashamed about the path he has chosen. Injuries have rendered him unable to play Tests - he never even scored a half-century during an eightmatch career that ended five years ago - and he has not played an ODI, or even a List A match, since the World Cup. That will not change until either he or the West Indies Cricket Board change their minds about playing in the Nagico Super50. Neither seems likely.
“Yes, I enjoy playing for Trinidad and I want to play for the West Indies, but people also have families that they need to feed and a life that they need to build,†Simmons says. He will continue to be a flag bearer for the age of the itinerant T20 player - a sign of the things and, he reckons, a shape of the future of West Indies’ best players too.
“Franchise cricket is a very good thing. People can travel around the world and play cricket. You get paid well for your services, and people want our services,†he says.
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