By Calvin Roberts
Recently, the Guyanese cricketing public was faced with the Shivnarine Chanderpaul fiasco where the dependable West Indies middle-order batsman did not resume his innings on the second morning of the final round match in the 2008 Carib Beer tournament against the Windward Islands at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.Six days later another fiasco involving a young and talented cricketer occurred during the Demerara versus Berbice final preliminary round match in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/GTM sponsored under-19 Inter-County three-day competition at the Demerara Cricket Club ground, Queenstown.
The incident reportedly occurred whilst Berbice were replying to Demerara’s 316 all out.
Ranole Bourne, who represented Guyana at the CLICO quadrangular Under-15 tournament in Trinidad earlier this year, left the field after reporting to his captain and the umpires that he had sustained an injury to his finger.
It was later reported that Bourne went off to represent the Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC) in a Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) organized Cell Link Plus first-division game where, according to reports, he made 50-odd.
Demerara team coach Orin Bailey and the team’s manager said they were unaware of what had transpired.
Bourne has denied that the incident occurred.
Questioned by this reporter and the manager Bourne on three occasions denied doing any such thing.
Even when confronted by one of his teammates from GNIC who participated in the game, the young cricketer maintained his innocence.
