By Iva Wharton
Chairman of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) on Cricket, Clive Lloyd says he will try to have some of the mixed messages in the public domain about the upcoming CT20 tournament clarified.
Key among the issues is the selection of the team for the January tournament. The resurgent Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has named a team while the Minister of Sport, Dr Frank Anthony transmitted another team to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The WICB has since said that it recognizes the GCB team.
Lloyd told Stabroek Sport yesterday he will seek clarity on the selection of the team to contest the 2013 Caribbean Twenty20 tournament when he meets with Sport Minister Anthony today.
Lloyd, when reached for a comment yesterday, said he was not aware that the team submitted to the West Indies Cricket Board by Anthony on behalf of the IMC was rejected as he was out of the jurisdiction. He also was not aware that members of the Guyana Cricket Board were given permission to use the National Stadium at Providence to prepare their team for the Twenty20 tournament. Since the government controls the stadium, the use of it by the GCB team would have raised the question of where permission had come from.
This issue, he said, could be sending mixed messages which could be a problem. Lloyd said as far as he knows there is still an injunction in effect against members of the Guyana Cricket Board and as such they should not be operating. A decision he said will have to be made on the matter. The IMC Chairman said too that today’s meeting will see them having discussions on the new cricket board constitution and the legislation that is to be tabled in parliament.
The GCB, he said, is not a recognized body because of the injunction against the members, some of whom have since resigned from their positions. The GCB has denied that there is presently any legal restraint against it.
Asked whether the new GCB will be accepted by the WICB once the legislation has been passed in parliament and elections held. Lloyd said they will have to accept it.
Yesterday too, Secretary of the GCB Anand Sanasie asserted that the GCB-selected team will be representing Guyana at the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament. That he said was because it was the team accepted by the WICB.
Asked if they were contacted by Government on matters pertaining to the team, Sanasie replied in the negative. The GCB, he said, does not have any talks with Government.
He was also asked who approved the GCB’s use of the Stadium. Sanasie said he could not answer the question but said the GCB sought permission to use the facility through the Sport Ministry and was granted approval. The team is currently in training at the stadium, but will break for the holidays after which practice will resume. The tournament starts on January 6th and will be held in St. Lucia and Trinidad.
The IMC and the GCB submitted separate teams to the WICB to represent Guyana at the Twenty20 tournament. However the WICB has held to its position that it will not be accepting any team other than that submitted by the GCB. Ten names in the 14-man squads appear on both teams.
