Dear Editor,
Politics exists in every organization including cricket at the highest level. The decision by the government to form the IMC following the Chief Justice’s ruling will be judged by the public; after all the Essequibo Cricket Board and Mr Claude Raphael have joined the IMC’s bus. What is happening in Guyana at present is a caricature of the now injuncted GCB and unfortunately it has descended to the county boards. With respect to Mr Claude Raphael’s letter appearing in the KN of August 3, it bothers me that the former Chairman of the selectors and WICB director knows the modus operandi of the ECB better than he knows his own home, the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB). What is even more alarming is that he never criticized the DCB during the bitter dispute involving the two factions that have now led to the absence of the once dominant board. It is not my intention to defend the ECB, since there are more prominent officials who are capable of doing so, but I will continue to expose the inequality and total disrespect that the ECB has endured for over thirty years, much of which is attributable to inept selection policies.
The arbitrary decision by the ECB to participate in the last elections of the GCB seems to be the main dilemma of Mr Raphael in his continued tirade against some members of the ECB, including Mr Asif Ahmad and the current secretary Mr Christiani. These servants of cricket are decent and industrious leaders who have served the game well, despite the herculean task of managing eight geographical areas that are vast with very few resources.
The questions posed by Mr Raphael involve the current state of affairs (under 15, 17, 19 and women’s cricket). The WICB has made it clear that they will not recognize any other entity than the GCB for the selection of teams to represent Guyana. Both the ECB and the BCB have participated in organized matches for the purpose of giving the players an opportunity to be selected, since unfortunately the IMC could not function in this regard as was intended. The Georgetown Cricket Association and the East Coast Cricket Board raised tacit objections but benefited from the fact that players from their constituencies were also selected. The identity of who is organizing and selecting these national teams is no secret, but there is no other alternative until the current impasse is resolved with the implementation of a new GCB constitution and the holding of new elections. In the meantime Mr Raphael’s attempt to vilify the ECB for the current crisis is only a distraction from the immense work of the IMC, which at this time should have drafted and refined the new constitution of the GCB which will need parliamentary support to become valid. Incidentally, Mr Raphael is one of the main technocrats involved in the drafting of this piece of legislation. I hope that he will be doing the same for the DCB, a board that is in peril and which needs serious answers for the transformation of the administration of cricket in Guyana.
Among the injustices visited on Essequibo cricket there was the shocking omission of Essequibian Clain Williams from the national under19 squad in 1998 despite being one of the leading run scorers in the trials. He was initially selected and was sanctioned by the selectors, only to have this overturned by a powerful executive member.
Prior to the present time the GCB annually sent a representative team to Canada as part of Guyana’s independence celebrations. Unfortunately not even one Essequibian was considered to be worthy of selection even for the purpose of gaining exposure. I always refer to Dinesh Joseph as one of the finest opening batsman never to play for Guyana, despite his masterful inter-county century against Test bowlers Reon King and Colin Stuart. In fact Joseph did attend senior trials under the tenure of Mr Raphael. However it seems that the selection of the team then was a foregone conclusion even in the wake of a continued pronouncement that Joseph never attended trials due to his own neglect.
The ECB is the only county in the history of cricket in Guyana where its players have to endure administrative disrespect. The players are told to travel and play cricket in Berbice on the same day while the other two counties will say that whenever they are dissatisfied with certain conditions, their concerns are met with swift action. An Essequibian umpire was banished from officiating at the inter-county level again because he had called off a game that Berbice thought that they should have won under dangerous and fading light. Just who is controlling the game in the middle? The BCB complained and the rest is history.
The unprofessional and embarrassing treatment of national captain and WI batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan must not go unnoticed, since his omission from the West Indies team is a reflection of the executive will of the administration.
The ECB in collaboration with a corporate sponsor had organized a T20 tournament which was sanctioned by the GCB before it was injuncted. Several national players were invited, including Christopher Branwell, Jonathan Foo and Rajendra Chandrika, among others, and they gave their commitment to participate. Interestingly the national players could not have played because of being threatened following the ECB’s decision then to support the IMC.
Our national fast bowler Ransford Beaton had to be a spectator from the stands. However two weeks after the BCB was doing the same and the national players were playing without interference. The decision by Alvin Johnson, Veren Chintamani and Fizul Bacchus to remain loyal to the GCB is their personal choice and not the official stance of the ECB.
The omission of Trevor Benn from the national team without playing a match was very devastating to the individual and while the excuse given was that it was for cricketing reasons, I wonder whether Benn was there as a footballer! Why not omit someone who had failed instead of Benn who was never given a chance (Benn was removed from the squad and not the eleven).
These are some of the plights of the ECB and Guyana’s cricket which I will continue to speak out against.
I am optimistic, however, that with the sudden vigilance of Mr Raphael that the public will also ensure that the governance of the game will be transparent and open to equal opportunities for the players regardless of their county, and that the imminent administrative transition will be a success for Guyana and the West Indies.
Yours faithfully,
Elroy Stephney
