Lloyd wants Hope in Windies ‘A’ team

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Former Windies captain Clive Lloyd has highlighted the need for an ongoing “A” team programme and believes that this was the best recourse for out-of-form right-hander Shai Hope instead of simply being dropped from the Test side.

Lloyd, 76 years old, also a former West Indies chief selector and team manager, said the recently acquired Coolidge Cricket Ground should also be established as an academy-like training centre, with amenities and coaches, and used to facilitate players like Hope who were struggling at the highest level.

And Lloyd, who oversaw Hope’s elevation to the Test side five years ago, also warned against the 26-year-old playing Twenty20 (T20) cricket as it was proving detrimental to his development.

“If we had an “A” team, we should have given him a chance to go and get his form back,” Lloyd said recently.

“I think this T20 is not for Shai Hope. [He is] going to get into bad habits. He should not be playing in that T20. It’s destroying his cricket.

“He should’ve gone into the “A” team. He should be playing in the longer game. He should have more of the nets with the bowling machine. We have to have a training schedule.

“We now have the Stanford Ground. That should be our stomping ground for the guys who need to get back into form. They should have coaches down there helping them with their game and all the facilities.”

Barbadian Hope was axed for the Test series in New Zealand next month following a protracted run of abysmal form that saw him average 19 from 17 Tests inside the last two and a half years.

His recent Test form has been the polar opposite of his One-Day form, however, which has produced an average of 61, with eight hundreds during the same period.

ATTEMPT TO RESUSCITATE FORM

After his exclusion from the New Zealand tour, chief selector Roger Harper said that Hope would work with Barbados Pride franchise coaches over the next several months in an attempt to resuscitate his Test form.

Lloyd, the architect of West Indies’ successive World Cup triumphs in 1975 and 1979, said that Hope would have benefited more from an “A” team programme, where he would still be involved in a high level of competition.

“That’s why I’ve said before that our “A” team is very important because you’ll be playing against Test players, guys who are budding Test players,” Lloyd told the Mason and Guest cricket radio show here.

“And if we had a good “A” team and we had “A” team tours, the young Shai Hope should’ve had a little stint in the “A” team to build his confidence back as England did with Nasser Hussain and Mark Ramprakash some time back.

“So it’s not a demotion for a Test player. It’s like if you’re playing football in the Premier League. If you get injured, you go into the second team, you get your form back, and then you’re up there [again].

Hope averages 26 from 34 Tests overall, with two hundreds – both coming in the second Test against England at Leeds three years ago when West Indies chased down 322 on the final day to win by five wickets.