Dear Editor,
The Guyana Floodlight Softball Cricket Association has taken note of the decision of the Guyana selectors to leave out Latoya Smith from its fourteen players to represent this country at the WICB Regional Tournament next month in Trinidad and Tobago.
With June Ogle opting out due to personal reasons, one would have thought that this would be the ideal opportunity for her to come through. It is most surprising that Smith was not selected, considering that she has been improving steadily over the last couple of years. The Guyana team returned from Dominica last year where she only played one game and had nothing to do until the two Inter County games when Demerara played recently. It would be interesting to know how the selectors came to their decision, because there were no trial games. With Smith being in and out of the Guyana team from the age of fifteen and working so hard in the off season with coaches Orin Bailey and others, due to the fact that there has been no organised cricket tournament by the Demerara Cricket Board or the Guyana Cricket Board, one would have thought that at her present age of twenty, a replacement for Ogle should have been sought.
This association, her parents and supporters would be happy to know the reason she was treated this way, so that we can plan for the future. Publishing the criteria used for selecting the team would also be helpful to other teams so that we could learn about selection strategies. It should be remembered that Smith is the only player dropped from the squad which returned from Dominica after playing one game. Joan Vansertima suffered the same fate last year. We impatiently await a response.
Yours faithfully,
Wayne Jones
GFSCA Organizer
