WI Wickets caught up with the Barbados Cricket Association’s Chairman of Selectors Henderson
Broomes. The following were his responses to the interview questions posed to him:
WI: For the benefit of our readers kindly provide an outline of your BCA involvement to date and how you came into your current role?
HB: My BCA involvement started after my playing career as a Senior Barbados player after which I became a BCA member which led to me being asked to sit on the Henderson Wallace selection panel for which I served as a Selector for seven years (2012- 2019). My current role as Chairman of Selectors commenced in 2019 after the Board of Management made a change in the panel and I was asked to lead this new team.
WI: Who are the other members of your current panel and how long will be its tenure?
HB:The members of the panel include former Barbados and West Indies players, Ryan Hinds and Carlisle Best. The tenure is a two year contract which will come to an end in June 2023.
WI: What is the process your Panel uses to identify players worthy of BCA Senior Team Selection?
HB: The process which my panel uses to identify players for selection into the Barbados team includes:
(i) Club performances throughout the season;
(ii) Early identification of talent coming out of the regional under 19 tournament and our main senior trials tournament, namely, The Barbados Legends Cup for which the teams are named after our local legends made up of Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Wesley Hall, Sir Charles Griffith and Sir Gordon Greenidge.
WI: How happy have you been with the results your selected teams have produced within recent years?
HB: Since becoming Chairman, the panel has overseen two regional first class seasons and two regional 50 over
tournaments. In the four day first class season, we are defending back to back champions (2020-2021 and 2021-
2022 seasons). Our success at the CG Insurance Super 50 tournament has not been as successful as the regional
four day as we were defeated in this year’s Semifinals. In accessing my personal satisfaction with the results, I would say on a scale of to 10, I am at an 8
WI: Are there any areas of Barbados cricket you are particularly pleased about and encouraged by?
HB: The area that gives me most satisfaction about Barbados’ cricket at this time is the number of representatives we have within the West Indies Test team which at one stage was 8. That also would give an indication as to why we have been so dominant at the regional four day, which I mentioned earlier.
WI: Conversely are there any areas of significant concern?
HB: My significant concern would be that of our performance at the regional 50 over tournament (white ball
cricket) having not won within the last five years, although we recently made the semifinals.
WI: Are there any young, up and coming players your Panel has identified as being capable of Barbados and West Indies selection in the very near future?
HB: To answer the question about up and coming players, that is the area that mostly excites the panel. To our
mind, we have a number of young and talented players to which I am sure will be exposed to our first class regional tournament in the near future. To name a few, in the fast
bowling department we have Dominic Drakes, Shamar Holder, Ramon Simmonds and Keon Harding. In the slow bowling department, Joshua Bishop, Camire Boyce, Javid Leacock and Shem Holder. In the batting department we have Zackary McCaskie, Shane Moseley, Nicholas Kirton and Kevin Wickham. Of course, these are just a few of the many talented young players on our soil.
WI: What would you say personally are the three most important things that need to be done immediately for
West Indies cricket to improve significantly towards retaining its former glory in the foreseeable future?
HB: My personal opinion on the improvement of West Indies Cricket to its former glory would include:
(i) The development of a core of genuine fast bowlers who can consistently bowl between 85 to 90 miles per
hour;
(ii) A longer regional first class season as ten games no longer develops the players for international duty; and
(iii) The development of an academy and A-team programme.