Wanted conscientious selectors

In a new weekly column, Irksome Question, The Indian Express, tries to answer these and other queries. This week, our reporters spoke to the cricketing fraternity to get to the bottom of this vexing question: Should India have a three-man selection committee ?

Three-man selection committee

ARGUMENTS

Among those who favour three men at the helm of affairs, is former chairman of the selection committee, Gundappa Viswanath. 8220;The present system is prone to the charge that the selectors fight for their quota. Such suspicion will not be there if the selection committee is restricted to three. The three need not necessarily be from different zones but should be deserving candidates,8221; he feels.

But such is the vastness of India, that having a three-member panel can create logistical problems. Polly Umrigar, another former chairman, says: 8220;The three will have to do a lot of touring. It will be feasible only if they are professional selectors 8212; meaning they are paid for the job.

This way, they will have no hassles with their respective workplaces.8221; He also suggested that the selectors be given a three-year term. 8220;That will give them the necessary confidence and they won8217;t be lured by petty matters.8221;

8220;More than the selectors, it is the captain who is blamed for a debacle. If he is the only person accountable, he should have that much authority as well,8221; Umrigar goes on to add.

Former Test cricketer Mushtaq Ali was so keen on the three-man committee that he even proposed the names of Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar as the members. But the problem is, will they the former cricketers or the Board agree to his suggestion ?

Former skipper Tiger Pataudi blames the zonal quota system for team8217;s failures. 8220;If selectors are named on the basis of their past experience and not because he comes from so-and-so zone, things will automatically improve,8221; he said.

Then there are others who feel any of the two systems 8212; three-man or five-man could be beneficial as long as the selectors do their job properly. 8220;Any system can be abused,8221; says Brijesh Patel, a candidate for the selectors post from South Zone this year. 8220;What guarantee is there that the selectors drawn from the same zone or state or even otherwise do not gang up and choose their favourites?

His final comment: 8220;I would say the need is for conscientious selectors.8221;Former Test cricketer and chairman of selection committee in the mid-seventies, CD Gopinath, sees no great difference between the two.

8220;But the concept that those in the panel should have played Test cricket is truly valid. This is because I feel they are generally better equipped than those who have not played the game at the highest level.8221;

SUMMARY

More than the quantity of selectors, it8217;s time we concentrated on quality. The zone-based committee must make way for honest, well-meaning and responsible individuals who can rise above the quota8217; system.Test players as selectors

ARGUMENTS

Kapil Dev, the highest wicket-taker in Test history, is expectedly among those who feel that a selector must have Test experience. 8220;There is no point in having selectors who haven8217;t played at the Test level. How can the Board allow such persons to decide the fate of young cricketers? What do these people know of the tensions and pressures of Test cricket?8221; he asks.

Former Test opener Chetan Chauhan not only agrees with Kapil, but also lays down a qualification. 8220;Only former players who have played more than 10 Tests should be there in a three-man committee.8221;

Yet, there are some who disagree.

Legendary spinner Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, who quit from the committee headed by the present BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur when the team was selected without his consultation, said he would prefer a selector 8220;who does his job sincerely and is in touch with the modern game.

With so many tournaments in so many countries and differing rules and conditions, the selectors must be abreast of the goings on.8221;

Agreed Naren Tamhane, a former wicket-keeper and chairman of the selection committee. 8220;Only eleven men can make it to the Test side. But that does not mean that the rest who toiled hard in first-class cricket are incompetent.8221;

Former Board secretary C Nagaraj was more emphatic. 8220;I would rather listen to a player who has played 100 Ranji Trophy matches than to one who has played just one Test. What we need are seasoned, well-meaning, honest, and sincere former players in the selection panel,8221; is how reacts.

Former Test spinner, Maninder Singh, often a victim of selectors8217; whims and fancies, says, 8220;I fully agree with the demand to have a smaller selection committee. But they should all be former Test players with some standing.

Such a committee would surely pick cricketers without any bias8221;.

SUMMARY

More than just former Test players, what the Indian selection committee needs are men who have preferably got Test-match experience, but more importantly they be in touch with domestic cricket. It should be made compulsory for the selectors to watch first-class tournaments.

Last word

The quote of the debate came from the firebrand cricketer of yesteryears, Sandeep Patil. His view: 8220;There8217;s no point in commenting anything. It is all useless.8221;

With inputs from H Natarajan/Colombo; Sanjay Rajan/Chennai; Sharan Kumar amp; Vedam Jaishankar/Bangalore; S Santhanam/Delhi and Chetan Kulkarni/Nagpur

Selection procedures in other countries

Till the early 70s, the five countries comprising West Indies Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Guyana and Windward amp; Leeward Islands had a representative each in the five-member selection committee. But criticism, mainly alleging regional bias, led to the five-man being reduced to three, who were chosen by the Board. These three were joined by the captain, who had a say in selection matters and later on in 1996, the coach, too, was made a part of the committee, bringing up the numbers once again to five. The Board only has a say in the captain8217;s selection, as they did recently when they rejected the selectors8217; suggestion to install Brian Lara on grounds of a poor disciplinary record. The selectors are usually Test players but there are rare exceptions like Calvin Wilkins in 1990, who played only first-class cricket.

TILL 1987, Australia had a three-man committee, which first became four and finally a five-member panel in 1992. This was done to catch up with growing number of domestic matches and it is now mandatory that each domestic match is being watched by at least one selector. The committee currently headed by Trevor Hohns, a Test player in late 1980s, can have selectors from any of the six states but preference is given those who have recently retired from the game. Yet, the flexibility allows for the likes of Steve Bernhard, who played quite sometime back for New South Wales. Nominations are called from the states and decided by the votes of Australian Cricket Board ACB directors. The captain has no vote in team selection but his contributions are taken seriously. The Board has no say in selection matters except for the approval of captain and the vice-captain. Selectors have no fixed term and their exit is usually because of personal commitments or on moral grounds. There have been numerous instances when selectors have resigned after a bad performance from the team.

A five-member committee led by a convener presently Peter Pollock selects the team. By and large they must have played some international cricket. Each unit of the United Cricket Board of South Africa UCBSA nominates an individual; but there can be more than one from the same unit, if the Board so desires. Preference is given to those who have just retired from the game, such as Clive Rice and Maurice Korda and Rushdie Majid the last two having huge first-class experience. The Board can veto a selected player, though such incidents haven8217;t taken place. The captain and coach of the team have no votes, but their inputs during meetings are valued highly. To drop a player from the team, recommendation has to come from the captain and the coach and the dropped player has the right to ask for an explanation from the convener of the selection committee.

Perhaps has the most peculiar set-up amongst all Test-playing nations. The seven-member committee led by a chairman is nominated by the the Board and is answerable to the Ministry of Sports. The chairman of the present committee, Duleep Mendis, also happens to be the national team manager. Five of the seven have Test experience including Roy Dias and Ashantha de Mel, while the other two played first-class cricket. Skipper Arjuna Ranatunga generally gets the players he wants in the team.

Since 1995, the constitution of the Pakistan Cricket Board has limited the number of selectors in the national committee to three. Previously, the numbers varied. The current committee is headed by Salim Altaf, and has Zaheer Abbas and Shafique Ahmed as the other members. The names of the selectors are proposed by the Chief Executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board PCB and have to be approved by the Board8217;s executive council who have the powers to delete a name. Priority is given to former Test players and the team is selected in consultation with the skipper of the team, who does not have a vote. Though the PCB is an autonomous body and has no connection with the government, the sports ministry or the Senate can call the PCB executive council members to explain decisions.

A three-member committee headed by a Chairman, presently David Graveney, and two others currently Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting. Members of the committee have to have first-class experience, though Test experience is not a pre-requisite Graveney himself has not played a Test match. The Chairman is appointed for two years, while one of the selectors gets a one-year term, another a two-year term. When the one-year term of a selector is complete, this vacant one-year-term post then becomes a two-year term post. The selectors are appointed by the England Management Advisory Committee. The captain and the coach are fully consulted, but the final selection rests with the committee.

n Based on interviews with Dr Ali Bacher, President, United Cricket Board of South Africa; Dhamika Ranatunga, CEO, Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka; Patrick Keane, Media Liaision Officer, Australian Cricket Board; Tony Cozier, West Indian TV commentator; Majid Khan, CEO of Pakistan Cricket Board; and Tim Lamb, Chief Executive, England amp; Wales Cricket Board