National all rounder Esaun Crandon along with middle order batsman Travis Dowlin will lead the two teams in the three-day practice match organized by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) at the Guyana National Stadium, in early preparation for next year’s West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)/ Carib Beer regional four-day competition.
Travis Dowlin
With Guyana playing her first four matches away in the competition which commences as early as the 9th January and taking into consideration the team’s poor showing in their first three matches of this year’s tournament, the selectors thought it best to prepare early for next year’s tournament, hence this practice game.
It would be the players’ final match opportunity to demonstrate their form and readiness before a pre-tournament encampment from 10th to 22nd December 2008.
The Guyana 13-man squad would also have the opportunity to participate in a practice match from the 4th to 6th January, 2009 before they depart for their first match which is scheduled from 9th to 12th against the Windward islands in Grenada.
Team’s for the game which will last for three days are:
Crandon’s XI from:
Esaun Crandon
Esaun Crandon, Rajendra Chandrika, Maxie De Jonge, Christopher Barnwell, Steven Jacobs, Gajanand Singh, Krishna Deosarran, Vishal Singh, Ranga Lachigadoo, Zaheer Mohammed, Verasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Brendon Bess, Trevon Garraway and Darwin Christian.
Dowlin’s XI from:
Travis Dowlin, Krishna Arjune, Shemroy Barrington, Narsingh Deonarine, Homchand Pooran, Assad Fudadin, Royston Crandon, Randolph Latcha, Totaram Bishun, Devon Clements, Paul Wintz, Keon Joseph, Seon Daniels, Delbert Hicks and Rajiv Ivan.
The match will commence at 09:30hrs each day.
This I cannot understand. Dowlin for no good reason given, shirks his responsibility as captain of his county side and proceeded to play in the same match under another college – who had to be dragged out of the box and forced into a position that he would not have prepared himself for – now finds himself at the helm of another team, one of much greater significance at that. There has been no plausible explanation given for his dereliction of duties other than “personal reasons”. This is unacceptable by any standard and a full explanation should be given why he neglected his responsibility as leader of the county side. Further unless the reasons for his failure are fully justifiable in front of a disciplinary committee, he shouldn’t even be considered for a national call up.
The sad saga about this story is that if you have prominence and is financially capable you will be rewarded handsomely for your misdemeanors and insubordinate behavior. Even more disturbing is the message that is sends to the young upcoming cricketers.
Discipline needs to take precedence in our cricket especially in these times of fallen standards. The cricket fans of Demerara and the West Indies deserve nothing less. If Dowlin judges himself incapable of handling the Demeraran captaincy, then I can’t see what qualifies him for this promotion.
Why is it that Richard Ramdeen was not selected in any of the trial squads? This young cricketer has the potential to play cricket at the highest level as proven in the recent Inter-County games in which he batted with authority in the awe of the Demerara and the Guyana selectors. It might be because it was the shorter version of the game, but, a batsman showing this kind of potential should not be hidden at the expense of those we’re not sure of. Remember the book makers of West Indies cricket in assumption of Shiv Chanderpaul not capable of playing in One-Day cricket earlier in his career? He turned out to be the most effective batsman in any version of the game. A batsman is a batsman in cricket.
It was evident, at the Blairmont ground, that the Demerara management has little knowledge about the game of cricket, thus, I guess whatever prompted Travis to decline leadership at Blairmont was no big deal.