Folks, I can tell you this: after the Australian tour, I am very tired, mentally and physically. It was a very torrid tour indeed.

I did not bowl many deliveries in Australia, the one exception being a benefit game for my favourite charity, a game and an organisation that I have supported for more than five years with my presence at their annual international game; the Multiple Sclerosis Society (of Victoria).

I was actually made captain of that team last December, a team which included players such as South African Barry Richards, West Indian Collis King, New Zealander Lance Cairns, Sri Lankan Asanka Gurusinha among many lights of the game. We played Australia's Masters Team, with Doug Walters, John Dyson, Tim May and Rodney Hogg, among others. Somehow, despite my captaincy, we won!

After only bowling about eight overs in that well supported game at the truly beautiful Wirabee Park on the outskirts of Melbourne, I still feel extremely tired after that horrendous tour by the West Indies to Australia. Believe me, this feeling has nothing to do with the almost twenty-four flying hours it took to get me back to the West Indies. I am just suffering from a delayed action of the blows the West Indian cricket team took in Australia. It was a terribly debilitating and extremely painful beating.

I can therefore only imagine what the actual West Indian players feel now. Having hardly unpacked their suitcases, after being thoroughly thrashed, they must now regroup, retune and return (though many might not), to play against South Africa in early March, less than two weeks away. Talk about being a masochist! Whoa!

Which brings us to the main point.

Since the South Africans have picked their team for the tour, perhaps I could name MY West Indies team for the First Test at Bourda, Guyana. I'll then name another team which is probably more in keeping with what has gone on with West Indies cricket, especially while on tours, and the results, over the last few years or so.

Without any preamble, and taking many things into consideration, this would be my team, or at least my squad of thirteen. Except for the opening batsmen, who would be the first two named, the rest of the names are in no real batting order.

Chris Gayle (Jamaica), Wavell Hinds (Jamaica), Marlon Samuels (Jamaica), Ramnaresh Sarwan (Guyana), Carl Hooper (Guyana), Brian Lara (Trinidad & Tobago), Ricardo Powell (Jamaica), Ridley Jacobs (Leeward Islands), Dinanath Ramnarine (Trinidad & Tobago), Nixon McLean (Windward Islands), Ryan Hinds (Barbados), Corey Collymore (Barbados), Kerry Jeremy (Leeward Islands)

The main criteria used here is the regional Busta Cup tournament, which, we are being led to believe, is the yardstick being used for selection this year. The second most important note is that this is a team with some young players who could do very well as times pass. Thirdly, at least these are fit.

Except for Wavell Hinds, Lara, Samuels, Powell, Jacobs, McLean, all of whom were of course in Australia for most, if not all of the tour, especially the latter part, the rest have played most of the Busta Cup and, more importantly, have measured up well, allowing for the fact that the standards were admittedly not as high as they probably could have been.

Hooper, Sarwan, Gayle, Ramnarine, Ryan Hinds, Collymore and Jeremy have all done rather well for their respective countries, all near or at the top in runs, wickets and averages at the present time.

My team has at least five bowlers of varying ilk, four of whom will play, in Jeremy, Collymore, McLean, (fast bowlers), Ramnarine, Ryan Hinds, (spinners), plus the all-round talents of Hooper - sorely missed in West Indies cricket these days.

The batsmen are Lara, Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Sarwan, Samuels, Hooper and Powell.

Ridley Jacobs is of course the wicket-keeper.

You will also notice that my team does not include either the incumbent captain, Jimmy Adams, or his unfortunate deputy, Sherwin Campbell. Both have shown in Australia that their batting has become so unreliable that on its own merits, neither can make the team, the first consideration, even without the added negatives of some very recent uninspiring leadership, especially from Adams.

Names like Courtney Walsh (Jamaica), Franklyn Rose (Jamaica), Reon King (Guyana), Mervyn Dillon (Trinidad & Tobago), Marlon Black (Trinidad & Tobago), Cameron Cuffy (Windward Islands), have been omitted from the squad on fitness requirements alone. At the time of writing, simply, none of these are fit.

I will also leave the usual rhetoric to the readers. I have simply selected my first Test squad.

From that squad, only three people are capable of being the captain; Brian Lara (who should be the captain, but has vociferously and vehemently indicated that he does not want the job, but would "support" anyone else in the position), Carl Hooper (who has done an excellent job with Guyana, leading the Caribbean in runs made this year, and inspiring Guyana to the upper reaches of the Busta Cup so far), and Ridley Jacobs (who, while perhaps the only real certainty in the team, is also the most reliable batsman, and the wicket-keeper. He may just have enough on his plate as it stands). So, by default, the captain would be Hooper.

Oh, I also promised the "real" team, using the same criteria about fitness etc. as would probably be selected by Joel Garner, Joey Carew, Mike Findlay and Roger Harper in the near future. Remember, these are my thoughts as what THEIR team will consist of.

Jimmy Adams (captain), Darren Ganga, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Ridley Jacobs, Dinanath Ramnarine, Nixon McLean, Corey Collymore, Carl Hooper and Chris Gayle. This team is a bowler short, but I am struggling to find another to replace any of the players named.

Let us see what happens next. All will be revealed soon enough. In the meantime, I need some rest too, for Trinidad & Tobago's carnival, now in full swing, and for the South African tour of the Caribbean. See Ya!

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