The National Twenty20 cricket team under skipper Christopher Barnwell left Guyana yesterday for Antigua where they will participate in the West Indies Cricket Board Regional Twenty20 series.
Guyana, two times winners of the Regional competition will be hoping to make it a hat-trick of wins despite the cloud under which the team departed.
Guyana won the inaugural Stanford T20 tournament in 2006 after defeating Trinidad and Tobago in the final with Narsingh Deonarine hitting a six off the penultimate ball of the match to formalize the victory.
They also won the inaugural Caribbean T20 tournament in 2010 defeating Barbados in the final.
On both occasion the victorious skipper was Ramnaresh Sarwan who will be missing from this year’s team because of concerns over his fitness.
The Guyana team, initially declared out of the competition and replaced by a West Indies B team, was included at the last minute following the convening of a meeting of the Prime Ministerial sub-committee on cricket at the CARICOM secretariat on Friday.
The meeting was convened at the request of President Donald Ramotar who had been approached by the members of the national team, to look into the matter of the team’s participation after it was suggested that the team might have been prevented from participating in the tournament following the replacement of the Guyana Cricket Board by an Interim management Committee set up by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.
President ramotar was joined by Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony, Aatorney General Anil Nandalall, CARICOM Secretarey General Irwin La Roque, Chairman of the IMC Clive Lloyd and Deputy Secretary General of CARICOM Lolita Applewhite.
At the other end of the teleconference were Antigua Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, CARICOM Chairman and President of the republic of Suriname Desi Bouterse Freundel Stewart, Prime Minister of Barbados.
Yesterday, Ramsey Ali, president of the GCB, urged the team which includes veteran West Indies player Shivnarine Chanderpaul to do its best.
“Despite the trying times you were forced to go through prior to your departure today, we were able to get you back into the tournament and I know that you have the capability to go out there and perform to the best of your ability, so I am urging you to do so and make all of Guyana proud,” Ali charged the members of the team.
He pointed out that because of the imbroglio, the team was unable to have adequate preparation following the Christmas holidays.
And, although the GCB scheduled practice games against Jamaica were unable to be held because of the rift, Ali said the Amazon Conquerors will be able to have some practice matches before they play their second game against Trinidad and Tobago Friday.
“You will be playing your first game on Monday (against Leeward Islands) and there will be a long break before you play your second match. With that in mind, I have spoken to the management team with regards to some practice games, to get you in a more positive frame of mind for the tournament and with that I wish you best of luck and God bless you all,” the GCB president said.
Secretary of the GCB, Anand Sanasie, said the players wre finally able to acuire their uniforms which had been sourced from India, after an executive of the GHCB paid for clearing the uniforms.
Addiotionally, Sanasie said that GCB president Ali provided the shirts for the players to travel while the team’s Departure Tax was paid for by a sponsor.
Skipper Barnwell feels that despite the hiccups and the fact that the team will be without Sarwan and to a lesser extent Lennox Cush, the team can still do well.
The winners of the WICB Caribbean T20 tournament will take home US$62,500, with the second-placed team carting off US$25,000 and the third and fourth place finishers US$12,500 and US$10,000 respectively.
Additionally, the losing semifinalists will be rewarded while the Star-of-the-Match in each match will get US$500 as well as a custom-designed plaque.
The full squad with officials reads: Christopher Barnwell (Captain), Trevon Griffith, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Leon Johnson, Royston Crandon, Derwin Christian, Steven Jacobs, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Dillon Heyliger, Rajiv Ivan and Ronsford Beaton. The officials are David Black (Manager), Ravindranauth Seeram (Coach), Rayon Griffith (Assistant Coach) and Robin Singh (Video Analyst).
