The executives of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) have expressed their dissatisfaction at the selection policies of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), when it came to the selection of the 42 players now 48, who are presently participating in the GCB/ President’s Cup competition.
In a letter written to Stabroek Sports, president of the DCB Bissoondial Singh wasted no time in highlighting his executives’ disgust at the selection policy of the GCB amongst other matters and called for the board to stamp out insularity forthwith.
Singh stated that the DCB chairman of selectors was not consulted during the selection process which was done to arrive at the list of names which made up the three teams for the competition.
An excerpt from:
The Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) wishes to disassociate itself from the selection of the players of the National Four-Day Senior Cricket Competition which commenced recently.
The Board took this decision at its executive meeting held on October14, 2008 at the Everest Cricket Club in light of discussions on the circumstances surrounding the selection process.
We will like the cricket loving public, cricketers, clubs and Associations in Demerara to know that the Board’s selectors were not allowed to participate in the selection process.
Our senior selector was not invited to the meeting that purportedly selected the forty two (42) players (according to Sean Devers this total is now 48) nor was he given the opportunity to have any input in the naming of these players. This in effect denied the Demerara Cricket Board its legitimate right to participate democratically in the process of selecting these players.
Mr. Claude Raphael, the Chairman and Convener of national Selectors, has been overseas for the past month or so and unless there was a lengthy teleconference, he would also have been absent from the selection process.
This would leave one to wonder who actually participated in this crucial meeting that completely omitted all the wicketkeepers that participated in the recent El Dorado Inter county competition for their counties.
These players were selected in a manner that does not justify the Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB’s) intended selection methodology or purpose for these games. Unfortunately, in this case we (Demerara) are the victims of this fiasco.
While the Board is cognizant of the role of selectors and the intricacy of the process, it holdfast that the methods used must be democratic, transparent, fair and accountable. As such this release is not intended to pronounce on the cricketing ability of any of the players selected, but rather the selection process.
Our position on this matter must also be viewed in isolation to our principle position on the replacement of the Inter County Competition with this format. The GCB is well aware of our position on this matter as it relates to the absence of checks and balances and abuse of power among others.
The Board feels that the treatment that was handed out to the players of Demerara is a slap-in-the face of this county which have contributed to and dominated cricket in Guyana for decades.
Furthermore, the direction in which this situation is heading wherein talented players are being ‘side-lined’ in the most unfounded manner, places Guyana’s continued dominance of regional cricket at a serious risk.
