Dear Editor,
If the contents of Carl Moore’s letter on what the sports pages of the Stabroek News described as “the Chanderpaul fiasco” are anything to go by, I strongly challenge the newspaper’s assertion that the letter “cleared the air” on anything.
If anything, the contents of Mr. Moore’s letter – clearly a refutation of the version of events tendered by Guyana Cricket Board boss Chetram Singh – thickens the plot of indiscipline, arrogance, high-handedness and incompetence that appears to inform the administration of local and regional cricket and which, I daresay, accounts in large measure for the continued cataclysmic decline of the regional game.
Mr. Moore’s account of the “Chanderpaul fiasco” provides a vivid description of the gross indiscipline at the highest levels that passes for cricket leadership. What the contents of his letter also bare is the crass lack of respect for team management on the part of those who rule the game.
If I may, I wish to proffer the following comments:
If Shivnarine Chanderpaul was bent on travelling to Port-Of-Spain for the WIPA Awards Ceremony – rather than play for his country – in the middle of an important game he ought to have been excused from participation in the game.
Granting Chanderpaul permission to go to Port-of-Spain in the circumstances that he did was an act of bewilderingly poor judgment on the part of the Cricket Board boss. Failure on his part to communicate with the team management smacked of incompetence, “eye pass” or both.
The fact that neither the Board President nor the Chairman of Selectors appear to see nothing wrong with Chanderpaul being allowed to travel in the middle of a game raises serious questions as to who is really “calling the shots,” a question that assumes even more ‘interesting” proportions when account is taken of Mr. Moore’s ‘submission’ on the selection of the team.
At the risk of being accused of seeking to blow the matter out of proportion I submit that the contents of Mr. Moore’s letter are sufficiently revealing as to become the subject of a major and important news story which should benefit from comments/clarification by the Board President, the Chairman of Selectors and Shivnarine Chanderpaul himself.
The sports pages of the Stabroek News have a duty to follow this story and let the chips fall where they will.
Perhaps some good may come of such an investigation that may redound to the betterment of local and regional cricket.
Yours faithfully,
Dwayne Boyce
