It was with an air of quiet confidence that the West Indies World Cup Squad departed for South Africa on Tuesday evening. Manager Ricky Skerritt was pleased with the manner in which the players had applied themselves to their preparation and at their level of commitment to the job in hand.

“It is cricket that we are playing and we expect the unexpected, but we expect that you are going to see a wonderful performance in the great traditions of the legacy of West Indies cricket,” Skerritt said at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados. “One of the features of this team which has impressed me more and more is our ability to learn, our ability to change and our ability to adapt. We are getting through problems much more quickly, much more smoothly and with a sense of future,” the Kittitian added. Fully appreciative of the fact that there are still problems and hurdles to overcome, he stressed that his team were confident, having worked very hard and that they were well prepared to face the rigours of the tough tournament which lies ahead of them.

On arrival in South Africa the West Indies will play two warm-up matches against provincial opposition, before going into their tough opening match against hosts, South Africa on February 9th.

One major disappointment for the Windies team and fans alike has been the withdrawal by the selectors of the young all-rounder Marlon Samuels due to persistent problems with his injured knee. Samuels, of course, was one of the major successes towards the end of the tour in India and in Bangladesh and he was very much a part of the new young batting foursome along with Sarwan, Gayle and Wavell Hinds which contributed heavily to the Windies improved run-scoring performances. Coach Roger Harper has expressed just how badly the youngster will be missed. The West Indies Cricket Board has supported this decision by the selectors and they are right to do so. This difficult decision by the selectors and the subsequent support of the WICB was clearly based substantially on the medical assessment and report of Dr. Mansingh, who was “amazed at the size of the defect” in Samuel’s knee and assessed that there was progressive damage, recommending surgery at the earliest opportunity with recovery estimated to take about a year.

There has been talk of Samuels playing in the upcoming Carib Beer Cricket Series and it is to be hoped that this is only speculative idle chatter. The WICB feels strongly that Samuel’s best interests would not be served by participating in this series. One trusts that the Jamaican cricket authorities will fall behind the decision of the Windies selectors and the WICB and urge the youngster to put his understandable disappointment in not being taken to South Africa behind him and undergo immediately the necessary repair work on his injured knee, therefore doing his utmost to ensure a bright cricketing future with the West Indies.

The West Indies, winners of the first two World Cup Tournaments in 1975 and 1979, will play in Pool “B” alongside South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kenya and Canada.
Marlon Samuels is replaced in the Windies squad by Ryan Hinds of Barbados who is another younster of prodigious talent, being a good middle order batsman and spin bowler. He has not yet managed to gab the attention of the West Indies supporters in the same way that Samuels has recently managed to do, but what better opportunity for him to take centre stage than in a successful West Indies team in 2003 ICC World Cup.

Mr. David Kenworthy

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