(
www.bcacricket.org
) - Despite missing the current regional NAGICO Super50 tournament in Trinidad & Tobago because he repeatedly refused to sign for the team's Match kit and was sent home, top Barbados batsman and former captain Kirk Edwards is still eligible for selection on the West Indies team.
This was confirmed today by West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Whycliffe "Dave" Cameron, who also noted that Edwards, a current Test and One-Day International player, who skippered the West Indies 'A' team last year, was among contenders for the captaincy of the West Indies Test team.
In an exclusive telephone interview from his native Jamaica with BCAcricket.org, Cameron, however, stressed that the sending home of the 29-year-old Edwards last Sunday as Barbados were preparing for their opening Day/Night match against Trinidad & Tobago which they won by 28 runs at Queen's Park Oval, was of concern to the WICB.
Under a WICB rule which has been in place for over three decades, players must take part in regional competitions to be eligible for selection to the West Indies team, barring "injury, illness or exceptional circumstances".
The rule has, however, been relaxed in recent years with the advent of the Indian Premier League and other Twenty20 tournaments around the world.
Apart from two T20 matches and one ODI against Ireland in Jamaica this month, West Indies will also play England in three ODIs (in Antigua) and three Twenty20 Internationals (in Barbados) between February and March.
"Kirk is eligible for selection on the West Indies team unless the Barbados Cricket Association decides they are going to sanction him since he made himself available for the NAGICO tournament," Cameron said.
"He was sent home from Trinidad for disciplinary reasons and it concerns the WICB greatly because Kirk is seen as one of the potential captains of the senior West Indies team. After all, he was recently the captain of the 'A' team."
Edwards, who has put his disciplinary case to the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), was to meet with top officials of the BCA Board of Management yesterday but that meeting has been put back until next week.
"Clearly it is a BCA and WIPA matter but we are hoping it is quickly and properly settled," Cameron told BCAcricket.org.
"When Kirk was removed as captain of the Barbados team last month, I contacted the BCA president Joel Garner and he advised that the BCA Board had made a decision."
Cameron also said that the WICB will be holding a debriefing meeting in Trinidad on February 14 "with the team's management and people involved in cricket".
"We will have the coach, captains of the last Test and ODI teams, the Director of cricket, the Chief Executive Officer, the Chairman of the Cricket committee and some other invited persons who shall remain nameless at this time," Cameron said.
A former West Indies Test vice-captain, Edwards was the Barbados first-class and limited overs skipper for the 2012 and 2013 regional competitions, leading the island to the four-day title last year.
He was replaced as the Barbados captain by batting all-rounder Kevin Stoute for the NAGICO Super50, while Test opener Kraigg Brathwaite will lead the side in the first-class championship, which starts February 28.
He made his debut for West Indies in 2011 and has played 12 Tests, scoring 821 runs including two centuries at an average of 35.69, as well as 11 ODIs with 300 runs with one century (ave: 33.33).
