The Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) is threatening to pull its players from the current Carib/Pepsi T20 tournament if organiser Robin Singh alters the list of players selected by the board but Singh rebutted last night that the BCB is not following the spirit of the competition.
According to Singh all he has got from the BCB is “stonewalling, messing with the players for them to strike and general non-commitment.”
He indicated that the other boards are cooperating since they understand that the aim of the competition is to select the best combination of players to represent Guyana at the upcoming Caribbean T20 tournament in Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados in January.
Singh posited that the BCB is not serious but rather it is playing the political game to have things their way. Singh is holding out that the BCB wants to have all the players that usually play in the Inter-County tournaments which would essentially increase the county’s chance of winning.
Berbice are the defending champions for this format of the game, along with the 50-over and is usually the county to beat locally. Singh said that the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has entrusted him with $7M to run the competition and therefore the aim will be to give all the players an equal chance of playing and making the national side.
However, the BCB in a press statement is contending that any change to the squads that were selected will be deemed as a suggestion for the BCB to pull its players from competing. BCB highlighted the achievements of the county’s teams for the past four years and stated that the onus was always on the Board’s selectors to select the team and it will not be accepted if an organiser sees it fit to change it now.
The three teams selected by the BCB to participate were Corentyne, New Amsterdam/Canje and West Berbice. The statement said this was done despite the late notification by the organiser.
“Berbice Cricket Board was appalled when the Management/Team of one of the teams was altered by the Organiser. This is most disrespectful and harbours contempt by the Organiser for Berbice Cricket Board. It leaves the Berbice Cricket Board to wonder how the sponsor Carib/Pepsi could condone such atrocity,” the statement read.
It went on to state: “In the current Carib/Pepsi Twenty/20 Tournament, the Berbice Cricket Board as per the Rules of the Competition has selected two (2) teams to participate in Saturday’s (tomorrow’s) game in Skeldon. Alteration/deletion of personnel by the Organiser would be viewed by the Berbice Cricket Board as an attempt of the Organiser to exclude all Berbicians from the tournament.
“This scenario will leave the Berbice Cricket Board no other device than to withdraw from the competition. Any team selected by the Organiser would not be recognised by the Berbice Cricket Board and would not be a representative of the ancient county.”
The teams that were selected by the BCB are as follows: Corentyne Team 1: Sewnarine Chattergoon, Richard Ramdeen, Assad Fudadin, Narsingh Deonarine, Royston Crandon, Rajiv Ivan, Keon De Jesus, Anthony Bramble (Captain), Jonathan Foo, Stephen Latcha (Vice Captain), Clinton Pestano, Eon Hooper, Mark Lionel, and Keron Fraser.
West Berbice Team 2: Romain Budram, Karamdat Bissoondial, Renwick Batson, Devon Clements (Vice Captain), Keith Fraser, Khemraj Mahadeo, Raffel Ogle, Seon Hetmyer, Kevin Ramdeen, Brandon Bess, Delbert Hicks, Sherwin Mc Pherson, Krishnadat Ramoo (Captain), and Keon Joseph.
Reserve: Joemal La Fleur, Romario De Jonge, Shawn Pereira, Jason Sinclair, and Devinshwar Prashad.
