GEORGE­TOWN, Guyana – Vet­er­an West In­dies com­men­ta­tor Joseph ‘Reds’ Per­reira be­lieves that the West In­dies Test cap­tain­cy should be giv­en to ei­ther wick­et­keep­er/bats­men Joshua Da Sil­va or Tevin Im­lach.

News broke last week that six play­ers; Ros­ton Chase, Da Sil­va, John Camp­bell, Jomel War­ri­can, Im­lach and Justin Greaves were be­ing in­ter­viewed for the va­cant po­si­tion fol­low­ing the de­ci­sion by for­mer cap­tain Kraigg Brath­waite to step down ear­li­er this year.

While the Bar­ba­di­an Chase, a vet­er­an of 49 Test match­es is the most ex­pe­ri­enced of the group, Per­reira, who has been a crick­et com­men­ta­tor for close to six decades, said Da Sil­va or Im­lach was the best choice.

Da Sil­va, a for­mer vice-cap­tain un­der Brath­waite, has played in 33 Tests, scor­ing 1238 runs at an av­er­age of 24.76 with one cen­tu­ry and five half cen­turies.

The Trinida­di­an had been the West In­dies’ first choice wick­et­keep­er in re­cent years, un­til he was dropped in place of Im­lach on the West In­dies tour of Pak­istan in Jan­u­ary.

Mean­while, Im­lach has played in just the two Tests in Pak­istan.

Speak­ing on WESN Tv’s Face of Sports show, Per­reira said while Da Sil­va was his first op­tion, it was un­clear whether he could make the West In­dies side as a bats­man.

“My own feel­ing is that you ei­ther give it to Im­lach or you give it to Da Sil­va.

“Da Sil­va has got the ex­pe­ri­ence of be­ing the for­mer vice-cap­tain for quite a few sea­sons un­der Brath­waite,” Per­reira point­ed out.

“The big ques­tion is that from all re­ports, and I trust Ian Bish­op’s de­scrip­tion of Im­lach in Pak­istan, he kept very well.

“But the big ques­tion is, can they feel with­in them­selves that Da Sil­va can make the side as a bats­man, be­cause he has the ex­pe­ri­ence as a vice-cap­tain, but can he qual­i­fy as a bats­man or would he push out a bats­man like [Amir] Jan­goo or a young play­er like [Kevlon] An­der­son,” he added.

Per­reira said while he was not in favour of the new in­ter­view­ing process, which in­clud­ed psy­cho­me­t­ric test as one of its com­po­nents, he ac­knowl­edged it was in line with CWI’s “new think­ing”.

“I thought over­all it was bad­ly han­dled and it fol­lows a pat­tern of new think­ing; no se­lec­tors, one per­son coach­ing, the Break­out League.

“There are new thoughts and new think­ing, and it is not all of a sud­den some­thing to­tal­ly new and the pan­el that in­ter­viewed the six peo­ple is just part of a trend,” Per­reira said.

CMC