By Marlon Munroe
East Bank Cricket Assoc-iation (EBCA) President Rohan Sarjoo is again crying foul against the selection procedures of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB).
This time he said that one of his cricketers from his constituency was not selected to represent Demerara in the upcoming GTM under-19 three-day competition because some DCB executives have a personal vendetta with him.
At a press briefing yesterday at the Demerara Cricket Club pavilion Sarjoo said that EBD batsman Mark Anthony Rhobe should have been named in the Demerara 14-man team rather than on the standby list.
Sarjoo is contending that the 15-year-old Rhobe scored a first division century in the GCB three-day tournament against DCC last month and he made scores of 38 and 35 in the recently-ended DCB inter-association under-19 50-over tournament.
However, Stabroek Sport found out at the press conference that the selector from the EBCA Andrew Allen did not inform Chairman of the Junior Selectors Nazimul Drepaul that Rhobe had scored a first division century.
Instead, reporters were told by Allen that he somewhat felt outnumbered and boxed in by the other selectors from the other associations. He kept saying that he is “one selector”.
A peeved Sarjoo, who represented Guyana at the under-19 level, is of the opinion that some of the players selected in the team do not warrant a place in the side. He said that this is the first time that he is seeing this sort of marginalization of players.
He believes this stems from the fact that he is outspoken on the issues that are affecting the game and more especially because he speaks out when he sees that executives are constantly flouting the terms of the Board’s constitution with impunity.
Sarjoo, who is a senior selector, thinks that selectors should be reshuffled and in some cases they should be replaced.
Sarjoo alluded to executive pressures on some of the selectors but when Stabroek Sport enquired whether the same practices would not recur, an answer was not forthcoming. He retorted, however, that cricket has become a barter system of “favours for family members” and therefore there is no proper screening for competency.
Meanwhile, when Stabroek Sport solicited a statement from Drepaul via telephone he said that he has no problem with anybody and certainly none with the player. He said if he had known of the century made by Rhobe he would have used his discretionary powers as the Chairman of Selectors and selected him.
But, he believes now that he will have to do a review of players’ performance after the first round from April 7-9 and then make an informed decision. He said that it is likely that the player can be drafted in if this process is carried out.
On the other hand, when Stabroek Sport spoke with Georgetown representative on the DCB, Roderick Lovell, he said that as it relates to Georgetown cricketers technical persons have been reviewing them for weeks. Therefore, selectors had at their disposal a good idea of the players who were eligible to be named at the DCB selection exercise.
He said that he has no interest in the internal wrangling of the board and therefore his main focus will remain selecting the best possible team to represent the county. He declared that people using 30s and 40s as reasons for players to be selected will continue to lower the standard of the game in the country. He acknowledged though that if the issue of Rhobe is being raised then it is possible that there was some flaw in the selection process. Notwithstanding, he said he will continue to view the game from a technical standpoint and make informed decisions.
Parents of Rhobe said that they were disappointed with their son’s omission. Meanwhile the young cricketer said that he wanted to quit the game but he was encouraged to continue by his parents who said that his chance will finally come.
On the other hand, Demerara will be led by Dexter Solomon and judging from the squad on paper they will be looking to take home the title this year. They also have Quincy Ovid-Richardson, Kwame Crosse, Amir Khan, and pacers Seon Daniels and Andre Stoll who have all represented Guyana at the youth level.
Demerara team reads: Quincy Ovid-Richardson, Shameer Fazal, Clevon Hyman, Kwame Crosse, Alex Ramalho, Arif Habib, Dextor Solomon (Captain), Delroy Charles, Christopher Surat, Raj Nanan, Amir Khan (vice captain), Seon Daniels, Andre Stoll and Daryl Ross.
Standby: Chandrika Persaud, Safraz Esau, Mark Rhobe, Azad Mohamed, Romel Peters and Daniel Gravesande.
The coach is Garvin Nedd and the manager is Orin Hutson.
