BRIDGETOWN, DECEMBER 30: Former fast bowler Joel Garner, who took 259 Test wickets between 1977-1987, is hinting that he may soon quit as a West Indies selector, the Barbados Advocate reported.
Garner, a Test selector for the past two-and-a-half years, is “puzzled” at recent decisions made by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), including the appointment of former Test skipper Richie Richardson, 39 next month, as captain of the `B’ team.
“The time is fast approaching when I shall have to tell West Indies cricket goodbye,” Garner was quoted as saying in Friday’s Advocate. He added that he felt a member of the `B’ team should have been chosen as captain.
Brian Lara has also criticised West Indian administrators in the wake of Friday’s disastrous 352-run defeat by Australia in the fourth Test in Melbourne, a result that put the home team 4-0 up in the series.
“Complacency has been a factor,” he said. “The slide started a very long time ago. The invincibility we had in the early 1980s was already diminishing when I arrived in the late 1980s. We weren’t beating teams 5-0 any more.
“May be the foresight was not there when we were very successful in the late 1970s and early 1980s. We needed that foresight for our run to last forever.”