As the controversy surrounding the fine being imposed on New Line Aqua Farm Cricket Club through its player Gajanand Singh continues, Chairman of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Competitions Committee Carl Moore told Stabroek Sports that national middle order batsman Gajanand Singh never indicated to him whether or not he had been released from his club Young Warriors.
“After hearing of Singh representing the New Line Aqua Farm Cricket Club (NLAFCC) in the GCB/ Gafoors nationwide first division 2020 competition, I made contact with him and notified him that his participation for NLAFCC was in breach of the GCB regulations, to which he simply said yes, via the phone.”
Subsequently, Singh continued to represent the club, having never indicated to me that he was in the possession of a release from his old club Young Warriors, thus the chairman of the competitions committee of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) Krisendat Mangal was notified by me and he said he was not aware. I then asked him to do an investigation into the matter,” said Moore.
The 56-years-old Moore who has been the manager of the senior national cricket team from 2003 to the present, further stated, ”When I consulted Mr. Mangal, he promised me that a meeting will be held between the competitions committee of the DCB and the club. I spoke with him again for the third time, following the due date of the meeting.”
“Then he told me that the club indicated to him, that they had in their possession a letter which was not seen by either Mangal or any other member present at the meeting and notified me that it would be better if the GCB dealt with the matter.”
Moore continued, ”He listed some personal reasons (which I would not disclose until the appeal is heard), why he wanted the GCB to deal with the matter, which was subsequently done and resulted in NLAFCC being fined $50,000.”
Moore further stated that prior to the start of the recently held West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President’s Cup limited overs competition, NLAFCC was invited to a meeting with the required 48 hours notice being given, via a letter.
“The Competitions Committee of the GCB invited the club and the DCB competitions committee to a hearing via a letter, but at the scheduled time of the meeting, neither the club or any executive member of the DCB competitions committee were present and when consulted, they said they were not available, whilst Mangal claims he was on the East Bank of Demerara and could not say if any other executive member would turn up.”
“Executive members of the GCB competitions committee who were present at the meeting were Colin Europe (secretary), Linden Daniels (Essequibo Cricket Board’s (ECB) secretary), Vibert Johnson also of the ECB, Randolph Mitchell and I. So we felt we had a quorum, thus the meeting was held and the decision to fine the club was made.”
While stating that the club has the right to appeal the decision to the executives of the GCB, Moore did mention also that no penalty was meted out to Singh at that time, due to the fact that the regional tournament was about to commence.
“As manager of the Guyana team and chairman of the GCB Competitions Committee, I felt it was not right to put him through such a dilemma, prior to the start of the regional limited overs competition. However, a date will be set wherein Singh will be asked to appear before the committee to give reasons for his actions,” said Moore.
The 21-years-old Singh has represented his adopted county Demerara in their first two preliminary round matches of the GCB/Pepsi/Carib Inter-county 20/20 competition, scoring 15 against his former county Berbice who went on to win the match and an unbeaten 38 against Essequibo.
He scored the winning run for Demerara against Essequibo, which subsequently set up a rematch of last year’s final between defending champions Demerara and Berbice at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, Friday night.
