IF THE type of game has changed, the teams should be allowed to change, argues Barbados coach Richard Straker.
With the 1998 Nortel Youth Cricket Championship now officially converted into a one-day limited-overs competition, Straker said teams should be given the option of strengthening their sides with players who are suited to the shorter version of the game.
Straker, returning as Barbados coach after a break of nearly a decade, made his feelings known a few hours after officials of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board of Control (TTCBC) announced the switch, which was triggered by heavy seasonal rain that wiped out the first two rounds of matches.
If you come down for a tournament with three days in mind and then it goes to a one-day, I believe every team should be allowed at least two or three changes so you can send for players who are so-called one-day specialists, he told NATIONSPORT.
He was watching as Barbados were moving towards a five-wicket victory in a hastily arranged 35-overs-a-side practice match against the Windward Islands at the University of the West Indies ground in St. Augustine.
Straker admitted the exercise would be costly, but he said if changes were allowed, Barbados need not make any for the tournament starting next Monday.
Almost everyone in this team who is a bowler can bat and every batsman can bowl a bit. It will not make a big difference to us. It will actually suit us a bit, he said.
Were going to be well-equipped. It is more mental. It is a slight adjustment. Weve got players in this side who can adjust. I have no fears. They can adapt to any situation, added the former Barbados batsman whose last year as national youth coach resulted in a championship success in 1988.
I think that we have some players in this team who might have been struggling in the three-day competition. But now they should adjust nicely. Weve got one or two players who are natural attacking players.
Straker said it was not the best thing to pick regional youth teams for one-day tournaments on the basis on performances in a three-day competition, as was the case last season when the West Indies team for the catastrophic Youth World Cup outing in South Africa was picked after the 1997 Nortel championship.
There should be two tournaments: a three-day competition and a one-day competition a couple of days after, he suggested.
TTCBC officials met yesterday to finalise plans for the limited-overs championship, but no announcement was made concerning the format of the competition.
It was learnt late last night that Barbados first match will be against the Leeward Islands at Gilbert Park in Couva, central Trinidad.
Barbados are hoping to play one-day practice matches tomorrow and Saturday, possibly against Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.