Over-40 Love Affair Sullies U.S. Team Selection

By Orin Davidson
An obvious love affair with players from the over-40 club has exposed the United States of America national cricket selectors to severe ridicule and embarrassment.

This time around, the selection of Nasir  ‘Charlie’  Javid  on the senior team for the international Cricket Council’s (ICC)  Division Four championship in Italy  has been justifiably met with outrage from cricket fans,  with charges of politics of the worst kind,  being  proffered  as  the decision  to include  the right arm leg spinner from Florida.

Listed at 44 years of age by cricinfo website, many fans doubt the authenticity of the bible of cricket websites, believing that Javid is older.  Sudesh Dhaniram, the last of the U.S. team’s over-40 club who was reduced to frontline spinner from top order batsman, did not make the cut this time.

Apart from his age, Javid has been a good bowler by United States standards in the past, but in 2010 he surely isn’t the best choice for a competition of international magnitude.

United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) president Gladstone Dainty stoutly defended  Javid’s selection,  stressing  he is one of the best spinners in the country , which he adds, justifies the association’s win at all cost  policy.

But that argument lacks substance when all the facts are taken into consideration surrounding the team’s participation in Italy.

For one thing, Javid cannot command a stating place in the final 11 in a bowling lineup comprising Kevin Darlington, Lennox Cush, Timroy Allen,  Usman Shuja, Mohamed Ghous  and Orlando Baker.
Even captain Steve Massiah has proven useful of late, as a back up bowler.

Thus, it makes no sense selecting a 44 year- old just for the ride, when a much younger player would’ve benefited from such a tour for future development.  And a number of such young players from New York alone, could do well with the exposure by filling Javid’s role as a seventh bowler in the 14 man squad.

Dwayne Smith is one of the most successful leg spinners in all types of New York competition and he can bat too. Up to a month ago he had notched two centuries in the America League. Andre Kirton is another New Yorker whose left arm spin, which in addition to his brilliant fielding skills makes a 44 year old’s selection ahead of him myopic. Even batsman Andy Mohamed‘s spin is a better choice.  Outside of New York there is Abhijit Joshi and Saami Siddiqui among others who deserve a place ahead of a player well past his prime.
So why Javid?

In an exclusive chat with newyorkcricket.com, Dainty explained that Javid did very well in his last appearance for the U.S. team at the 2008 Americas championship. But the records suggest otherwise.   In the games he played against Argentina, Canada and Cayman Islands, Javid took a total of three wickets for 98 runs from 23 overs with his best innings returns being 2-44 against Argentina and was not used for encounter against Suriname.

He was never considered for the  tours of the UAE,  Nepal or Bermuda  which makes his selection  a  more than mere curious choice, as between  November  2008  to 2010 he has done nothing earth-shattering with the ball  for his club. And his skills are more likely to decline with age, not to mention his fitness, which was never exceptional.

Javid though, happens to be a director on the USACA Board who represents South East Region that includes South Florida and Atlanta. And the word is he will play a crucial role in the next USACA elections due before March 2011.

So, his prospect of his selection being a reward before the elections, now seems more real than fiction.

More so, when another big player in the elections battle  ‘Chik’  Masood,  a USACA director,  has become a permanent member of  national touring  teams as physiotherapist, even though  his work has been described by players and officials as negligible.

It is interesting his name is not listed officially for the Italy trip, but he is usually a late entry.

In the midst of all the furor, chairman of the national selection panel Sew Shivnarine is a disappointed man for more reasons than one.  In a strange new policy which Dainty revealed, the final 14-man touring squad selection is made by team captain Steve Massiah, vice captain Sushil Nadkarnie and coach Clayton Lambert.

Shivinarine and the three man panel which also comprises Abrar Ahmed and Mohamed Khan, were required to pick 18 players and the chairman said he is upset with the final composition of the squad.

Shivnarine would not be drawn on the inclusion of Javid, but pointed out that their squad included more youths and he is also peeved the panel is not making the final choices, which is standard procedure with every team in world cricket.

Dainty himself said he favors young players and rightly points out that the squad for Italy is possibly the youngest ever to represent the country.

But it still does not make up for the inclusion of Javid.

Also, the selection of a backup wicketkeeper for Carl Wright leaves much to be desired. Wright, who also opens the batting has been a reluctant keeper of late and only did limited duty in Bermuda.

The obvious backup Akeem Dodson was ignored once again.   Dainty  and Shivnarine  both  view Dodson as a good promising player, but  the president  believes  he was overlooked in favor of teenager Steven Taylor, which is  erroneous, given  the gap in achievements among the two youngsters as wicketkeeper and batsman.   Dainty also disagreed with circulating rumors about one prominent team official who reportedly does not want Dodson in the team for personal, non-cricketing reasons. “That type of thinking has no place in United States cricket,” Dainty declared.

Captain Steve Massiah did little to justify the new selection policy, by declining to accept phone calls from this writer, to explain his panel’s choices, Javid included.

If the USACA president has shown the guts to support Javid’s decision, why can the captain and his ‘senior’ panel, not follow suit?

Given the intense controversy generated and the political-influenced allegations, Massiah’s reluctance to justify the selections has made his job as team leader more difficult than the obstacles he would face with the bat in Italy.

Surely, he is not planning to run for USACA president.