Phil Simmons disgruntled with 'interference from outside' in ODI team selection

Simmons is disappointed with the ODI squad selection

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons expressed his displeasure with the way Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard were omitted from the national ODI squad selection. According to Simmons, he was not given the opportunity to have the “best 50-over squad” for the upcoming West Indies tour of Sri Lanka.

Although the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has not announced the ODI squad, the exclusion of Bravo and Pollard from the fitness testing, which precedes the training camp at 3Ws Oval in Bridgetown, does significantly weaken the limited-overs team.

Former West Indies all-rounder Simmons took over the reins of the national squad after the 2015 World Cup. Bravo and Pollard have not been in contention for the ODI squad since they were dropped for the five-match series against South Africa which happened earlier this year. The continuous rejection of Bravo and Pollard by the WICB stems from the players’ role in the contentious desertion of the ODI tour of India.

Simmons lamented the influence from people outside the selection panel as the reason for the exclusion of the duo from Trinidad & Tobago. However, he would not reveal who the ‘outside influences’ were.

Both Simmons, the head coach, and Clive Lloyd, the chairman of selectors, were outvoted 3-2 in the selection meeting. The other members of the panel are Courtney Walsh, Courtney Browne and Eldine Baptiste. Simmons also said that both Bravo and Pollard had the backing of the Test and ODI captain, Jason Holder.

“I think it's disappointing from the fact that I haven't got the best 50-over ODI squad that we can select in the Caribbean,” Simmons told the media.

“That's not the disappointing fact. The disappointing fact is that you can lose 3-2 in a vote-off but there is too much interference from outside in the selection of the ODI squad and it's disappointing for me to know that in any aspect of life … [people would use] their position to get people into a squad; or in this case, get people left out of a squad. It is wrong and I don't like it and that is my beef with the selection of the ODI team,” he continued.

“I don’t think that it (selection) was done as professionally as it should be done, (there was) too much interference from outside and in this case, I even go as far as saying maybe influence because the reasons that were given for them being out.”

West Indies' tour of Sri Lanka begins on October 8 which will be followed by a tour to Australia.