da heads bet： One over-30 wicket-keeper will replace another for the Kenya leg ofthe imminent West Indies tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya
Tony Cozier13-Jun-2001One over-30 wicket-keeper will replace another for the Kenya leg ofthe imminent West Indies tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya.Courtney Browne, 30, takes over from Ridley Jacobs, 33, emphasisingthe absence of obvious young candidates at present.Browne is one of two changes to the 16 for Kenya where the team willplay two four-day matches and three One-Day Internationals.The other brings in 21-year-old left-arm wrist spinner Dave Mohammedfor his first tour in place of fellow Trinidadian Dinanath Ramnarine.Chairman of selectors Mike Findlay did not say who would substitute ifeither Jacobs or Browne is injured. It is a calculated gamble but onethat could well backfire.Last year, Findlay identified Wavell Hinds as a possible choice afterJacobs was originally the only chosen keeper for the tour of England.But then Wayne Phillip, the 22-year-old Dominican, was seconded tofill the post.In the event, Hinds never had to be called on. He is again in thesquad for the triangular one-day series with India and Zimbabwe, whileLeon Garrick, his fellow Jamaican who takes his place for the Tests,has kept at club level.Jacobs was also the sole keeper on the preceding tour of New Zealandand played in both Tests and all five One-Day Internationals.Findlay acknowledged yesterday that the choice of Jacobs, who hasplayed his 31 Tests and 79 One-Day Internationals in succession, andBrowne (13 Tests, 12 internationals) was indicative of the dearth ofyoung keepers.On this tour, we would have loved to have had a young keeper but thereality is we don’t have one we felt was ready yet , he said.The disappointing thing is that every time we see a young keeper wholooks promising, after a couple of years he falls back instead ofgoing forward.Findlay, himself a former Windward Islands keeper who played 10 Testsfor the West Indies between 1969 and 1973, placed Jamaicans Shane Fordand Matthew Sinclair, in that category.They were chosen for representative teams against touring teams buthave since lost their places in the Jamaica team.Phillip and 21-year-old Jamaican Keith Hibbert are both at the ShellAcademy in Grenada and Findlay hoped they would emerge from that asthe keepers of the future.Phillip looked quite good when he went to England and filled in forJacobs in some county matches on last year’s tour of England, he said.But something seemed to go wrong along the way and he hasn’tprogressed as we hoped.Hibbert made an impression in last year’s Red Stripe Bowl with bothhis batting and his keeping but, according to Findlay, they fell awayduring the Busta International Series.They are both young enough that they can come on with the propertraining and attitude, he said.