Manchester gets cold shoulder

The time has come for someone to highlight what must be the biggest anomaly in contemporary Jamaican cricket. For the last three years, Manchester have been the best cricket team in the country. They have won the all-island two-day title three years in a row. Over that period, they have also been beaten finalists in both the one-day and 20/20 formats.

Despite this excellent record, not a single player from Manchester has made it to the national senior cricket team, in any format of the game, for the last three years! That is strange, and many, including yours truly, are now left to wonder if this is mere coincidence, or something more sinister.

The curious treatment of players from Manchester goes back to 2005. That year, the left-arm, back-of-the-hand spinner André Dwyer took 60 wickets in the two-day competition. The next year he took 49. He was completely bamboozling people, and was easily the most effective bowler in the country at the time. No less a judge than Andy Roberts felt he might be our best spinner. He couldn't make the national team those two years. He took 30 wickets in 2007 and the selectors could no longer ignore him. He played two games for Jamaica, albeit with moderate success, and has not played since, even though he has been among the wickets in subsequent years.

Manchester opener Zeniffe Fowler went to the national one-day trials in 2009, after a decent domestic season. He scored more runs than anybody else, except for Chris Gayle. He couldn't even make the squad. He was, and still is, playing for Manchester!

In 2009, Krishmar Santokie, playing for Manchester, took a tournament-high 41 wickets in the two-day season. He was virtually unplayable. He was taking wickets at less than eight runs a piece! Deadly accurate, he swung the ball late both ways, and had a good yorker. He couldn't get into the squad. I remember having a rather heated discussion on radio with the then chairman of selectors. He wasn't impressed!

The next year, partly out of frustration, Santokie left Manchester and went to play for his native Clarendon. He played one game for Clarendon and then made the Jamaica team and then, as we see, the West Indies!

Donovan Sinclair, at 26, may have to change parish. He is unquestionably one of Jamaica's most consistent batsmen in our top competition. In the last five years, Donovan has played 27 matches for Manchester, and has batted 36 times. He has five hundreds and six fifties, averaging 51.32. He's also a useful leg-spinner and a good fieldsman.

There are precious few batsmen in local cricket who boast such a polished résumé. In fact, of those who play regularly, he is the only local batsman to average 50, except for Lorenzo Ingram. Sinclair has played a grand total of three games for Jamaica, the last time being three years ago!

Others locked out

Jamaica have struggled in 20/20 cricket over the years. They continue to play the same bowlers.

David Powell, the left-arm spinner from Manchester, is known to be tight. Except for Nikita Miller, at his best Powell is arguably Jamaica's best spin bowler at drying up run rates and locking down an end. He's also a wicket-taker. Two years ago, he took 29 wickets, the third-highest in the country. He, too, can't make the national team.

The camel's back was broken this year. Jamie Merchant, the Manchester off-spin all-rounder, was overlooked for another off-spin all-rounder, Yanique Elliott of Melbourne, despite better returns at the trials.

One parish team can't be this dominant, turning out such quality players, and not get a national pick. If Melbourne or Kingston had won the two-day title three years in a row, there is no way they would have got the cold shoulder. There seems to be something systematic about how the selectors have handled the players from Manchester. They have had to watch as others make the team with far less impressive returns in both the regular season and the trials.

The youngsters at Manchester are convinced that there is a vendetta against them, and a few of them are thinking about giving up the game altogether or moving to another parish. Who could blame them?

Orville Higgins is a sports journalist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.