Raphael slams CGI for decision to replace Inter County tournament

The decision to replace the annual Inter County cricket tournament with a National Cricket League has come in for scathing criticism from former chairman of the national cricket selection panel Claude Raphael.

Recently, Cricket Guyana Incorporated executive Anand Sanasie disclosed that a National Cricket League was to replace the Inter County tournament which for years was one of the yardsticks used to select national four day and one day teams.

“The recent disclosure by Cricket Guyana Inc.’s (formerly DEB Essentials Organisation Inc.) Executive Anand Sanasie that a National Cricket League will replace the tried and proven Inter-County cricket tournament (ICT) is very ill-advised and far-fetched especially with the inherent divisiveness currently being experienced within our cricket environment,” Raphael told Stabroek Sport.

According to Sanasie, the National Cricket League would comprise eight teams but Raphael said that implementing such a tournament in the present cricket structure could lead to chaos.

Anand Sanasie
Anand Sanasie
Claude Raphael
Claude Raphael

“To impose a superstructure on a weak substructure with inadequate support/foundation could only lead to ultimate collapse of the entire structure. Similarly, replacing the ICT with an eight (8) team National League in my humble view is heading for catastrophe,” he posited.

Raphael said that apart from the fact that the stakeholders of Guyana’s cricket should have been involved in such a decision he also had questions for the planners of the league.

“How will it be sustained? Where will these teams come from and how will they be developed? By what authority was the ICT scrapped?” he asked adding …”In my view Sanasie does not have the legal or any authority to do so. There is no basis for such extreme action. There should have been a consultation process with all cricket stakeholders.”

The former GCB executive said that he was at a loss to see how such a tournament could be run off without the involvement of the Berbice Cricket Board, East Coast Cricket Board and Georgetown Cricket Association.

“These are the board/associations which have been producing the national players over the years and have the experience and the expertise to run any successful cricket development process,” he argued.

Raphael is also questioning the legality of the process used to replace the Inter County tournament with the National League.

“Sanasie must produce his legal authority and a properly-documented plan to support his decision to implement a National Cricket League in place of the Inter-County Tournament, he declared.

“Though there is need for more cricket to be played, it must be done in a structured and practical manner in order to reap maximum dividends. “Cricket success could be best achieved if it begins from the widest possible base upwards through the nursery in a pyramid form, with the cream of the players competing at the very top.

“A properly-designed cricket development programme from the schools through the clubs, associations and county boards will form the foundation upon which a National League could be initiated, with the best players competing at the inter-county levels for selection to the national team,” he suggested.

Raphael said for that type of initiative to be sustained, there needs to be the involvement of all the available human resources along with a major financial input from government, private sponsors and others.

“In my opinion success in this venture cannot be achieved until there is a legally-elected Guyana Cricket Board with acceptable accountability. No self-respecting sponsor will put his hard-earned funds into a cricket regime that is illegally owned by a few individuals many of whom have nothing productive to do with cricket,” declared Raphael.