Port-of-Spain, Trinidad — Chairman of West Indies Cricket Board Selection Panel, Clyde Butts, today spoke on the West Indies A Team programme, following the Digicel Four Day ‘Test’ Series win against India A and as the teams prepare for this weekend’s Digicel T20 Series double-header at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad.
Butts was full of praise for the young West Indies team which came from behind to win the three-match ‘Test’ series. In that Series left-arm pacer Delorn Johnson was the outstanding performer. The 24-year-old, a graduate of the Sagicor High Performance Centre, took 17 wickets to win the Man-of-the-Series award.
Butts also outlined that the team for the T20s this weekend, has been picked with the ICC World T20 in mind. Kieran Powell has been named as captain and several players with international experience have been called up to the 13-man squad.
Butts said: "The A Team programme in the West Indies is about development and looking at the resources available as we build towards the future in West Indies cricket. It is also about being competitive against all opponents we face. We want to develop our players and see them move forward but we also want to develop a winning mindset. In the ‘Test’ matches the players showed that they are developing into a very competitive unit and it was really good to see the way they performed against more experienced opposition and won the series. They were exceptional in all departments and deserved to win.
"The WICB has set-out a policy of development and where we want to go. This series win and some of the individual performance were steps in that direction and we are confident that we are on the right path. We saw players stepping up and playing with confidence and assurance. Last year we also played some good cricket when the Bangladesh A Team came to the West Indies. The win in this series against India was a huge bonus."
Looking ahead to this weekend, Butts said: "We have the World T20 tournament in Sri Lanka coming in September, that’s just around the corner, so we have selected a number of players who have represented the West Indies in this format and others who have done well in the regional competitions.
"We had some players who featured in the ‘Tests’ but are not in the T20 side. We want to make it clear they have not been ‘dropped’ or anything like that. This weekend we are focussing on the T20s and we have selected a few new faces to have a closer look at them against the Indians."