Miles Bascombe should be on Windward Islands Cricket Team

Fri Jan 17, 2013

Editor: A young cricketer, with West Indies experience and great potential, has been inexplicably sidelined by the Windward Islands selection panel. It’s not just that Miles Bascombe has already demonstrated that he is good enough to play at even the highest levels, his recent run of form is also truly remarkable.{{more}}

Miles helped the St Vincent and the Grenadines cricket team to win the championship trophy in the just concluded senior Windward Islands T20 competition that was held in Grenada last December. This competition is ostensibly the basis on which the Windwards team for the Regional Super 50 tournament was selected.

Yet Bascombe, who enjoyed the highest average in the competition (65.3), and who scored the second most runs overall, and who had a very healthy strike rate, was not picked. Miles must be very disappointed. I know that it is an ongoing struggle for him to even find time to train, given his full-time work commitments as a teacher at the Campden Park Secondary School. He, however, made the extra sacrifices required and prepared himself well, only to reap so unjust a reward.

The consequences of poor selection have new seriousness, given the significant loss of income that can now be associated with it, even at regional levels. Miles has also been basically denied the opportunity to play in the Caribbean Premier League and, ultimately, to make a return to West Indies colours. These are matters which can be plausibly tested in court.

The irony is that Miles Bascombe could be just the man that Windwards cricket, and by extension West Indies cricket, needs. He is known for his exciting stroke play and, according to www.espncricinfo.com, for “being able to take a bowling attack apart at the top of the order.” Mr Bascombe’s cricket ability is matched by his academic and leadership ability. He has both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of the West Indies and has excelled in many leadership positions throughout his career.

Cheer up, Miles! We will live to see the stone which the builders rejected become the chief cornerstone.

R. T. Luke V. Browne

lukebrowne@yahoo.com