Former West Indies bowling ace Courtney Walsh believes the panel of selectors have for the most part done a creditable task in assembling the squad ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup, but admits a few omissions could still be questioned.

"I think they got it right, they have put together a strong squad, one I believe can be competitive," Walsh, an expert contributor for ESPN's specialist cricket website ESPNcricinfo.com, said.

"They are a few other players that you could have considered, Marlon Samuels is one but there could have been doubts about his fitness having only recently returned," Walsh added.

two-year ban

Samuels, who served a two-year ban, which came to an end in May of last year, has been a revelation for Jamaica in recent competitions. The batsman finished with the highest aggregate of 253 runs, including two half-centuries in the recently concluded Caribbean T20 competition. Samuels then went on to compile and impressive and unbeaten 250 against Guyana in the regional four-day competition.

In addition to Samuels, Walsh also believes consideration could have been given young Trinidadian batsman Lendl Simmons, but believes that his may have been a case of external considerations.

"Simmonds is another player that they could have looked at, but in his case we understand that it may have had other things to do with than just his cricketing ability," Walsh said.

Simmonds, who in addition to the bat is also quite handy in the field, has been overlooked by selectors since returning from the one-day tour of Australia in February of last year. However, in a recent interview, head of selectors, Clyde Butts, had stated that Simmonds had "issues" that need to be worked out. While not being specific about what these issues were, Butts went on to stress that performance was not the only criterion for selection.