The message from the West Indies selectors is clear: prepare and perform, or be replaced.

Chief selector Clyde Butts yesterday told the Express in a telephone interview that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) have shown by their allocation of central retainer contracts that players will have to earn their pick.

Trinidad and Tobago wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, Guyanese batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan and Jamaican pacer Jerome Taylor have all been passed over for renewal of retainer contracts for the period October 2010-September 2011, for either form and fitness reasons.

According to Butts, it is up to the players themselves to improve their personal fitness and performances.

"I think (the WICB's distribution of retainer contracts) speaks for itself in terms of what has happened over the past year. You have to pick your fitness level up. You have to show your commitment to the game itself. Every player is slightly different to the other. But one would like to see commitment from the player."

Ramdin has been West Indies' first choice wicket-keeper since his 2005 debut away to Sri Lanka, and in 42 Tests, he has managed eight fifties and a single century. In the last three years he has averaged 21.04.

In One Day Internationals, Ramdin averaged 16.63 in that period, and 17.50 in T20s, and was dropped briefly earlier this year against Zimbabwe after a woeful start to the series.

Butts admitted, though, that the region has few viable wicketkeeping options. Only Jamaican Chadwick Walton—whose Test experience came last year against Bangladesh when the frontline players boycotted that home series—and Andre Fletcher can replace Ramdin behind the stumps, and they have been awarded developmental contracts. Walton is the only specialist wicketkeeper named on either contract list.

"Ramdin has been doing the job for some time, but he is out of form at the moment," Butts explained. "I have spoken to him, and told him we want him to go back and work on his cricket for a while, and come back strong. Ramdin is still a young man and he still has a lot of cricket left in him. But it's safe to say at this time that we are really lacking in this department."

Sarwan and Taylor have played little international cricket over the last year due to injury, which the WICB said played a big part in those players losing their contracts for the next year.

"I think at some time," Butts reasoned, "the Board and the selectors would have had to tell the public that 'hey, it's not business as usual'. The West Indies (Board) has taken a stand where we want to see the players improve in their standards, (and) their fitness in cricket as well. At some point we have to make a change."

Sarwan's countrymen Narsingh Deonarine and Travis Dowlin, as well as Jamaican allrounder Dave Bernard Jr, have also been overlooked for retainer contracts. Instead, T&T's Adrian Barath, Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo are three of six players receiving first-time retainer contracts.

But Pollard, Butts said, still has some work to do to fulfill his dream of being a West Indies Test player.

"Kieron himself has said that he would love to play all forms of the game, and I think he knows what he has to do to play the longer form of the game," Butts pointed out. "I think he will have to buckle down a bit more in the longer form, if he wants to make it in West Indies cricket.

"We all know that Kieron has a lot of talent, but there is maybe just a little bit missing, that he needs to work on."

Out-of-favour Test opener Devon Smith should return to action over the next year, Butts hinted. He has been offered a central contract after consistent returns with the Windies "A" team.

The A team programme is ongoing, Butts said, and is expected to be in operation again soon, and the former West Indies spinner is hoping that it, along with the High Performance Centre, will put pressure on the seasoned players for spots on the regional team.