West Indies Cricket Board directors will convene a teleconference tomorrow and high on the agenda will be the present stalemate between the sidelined Guyana Cricket Board and the government-implemented Interim Management Committee.
It is unclear what time the teleconference will commence but WICB Corporate Communications Officer Imran Khan said that the media will be updated after the meeting.
According to another source in the WICB, after the IMC and the GCB selected 30-man and 31-man squads respectively for the upcoming Regional four-day tournament, which begins on February 3, the top brass of the WICB has been closely monitoring the situation.
Further, this newspaper had reported that the WICB will not be accepting the team from the IMC, reiterating its position that the GCB is the recognised body to select a team.
However, Clive Lloyd, Chairman of the IMC, had said that the Chief Selector of the GCB was invited to help select the 30-man provisional squad but he did not turn up, stating that he was “unhappy with the situation” of the IMC.
Sport Minister Dr. Frank Anthony also pointed out yesterday that the government is going ahead with its preparation of the Guyana squad despite the GCB releasing a team last evening for the upcoming Regional four-day tournament.
In that squad Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been named the captain while Veerasammy Permaul was named as his deputy.
Ramnaresh Sarwan, who was named as the captain in the IMC squad, was also selected in the GCB 13-man team. Stabroek Sport understands that the release of the team was to make the WICB deadline for submission. In the GCB release the players and reserves are asked to attend a pre-tournament meeting at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence, La Bonne Intention (LBI) tomorrow at 11:00 hours.
According to the release permission has been granted to Chanderpaul to participate in the Bangladesh Premier League and should he choose to participate in the BPL Permaul will assume the captaincy, with Leon Johnson being his deputy. The team selected is for the first two matches only.
The management team is comprised of David Black, Manager, Coach, Esuan Crandon, and Assistant Coach, David Harper.
The team reads: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Captain),Sewnarine Chattergoon, Rajendra Chandrika, Narsingh Deonarine, Assad Fudadin, Leon Johnson, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Derwin Christian, Christopher Barnwell, Brandon Bess, Veerasammy Permaul (vc), Davendra Bishoo, Ronsford Beaton.
Reserves: Royston Crandon, Rajiv Ivan, Keon Joseph, Norman Fredricks, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Steven Jacobs, Trevon Griffith, Anthony Bramble and Vishal Singh.
Anthony, in an invited comment yesterday, said that the government is presently funding the encampment and training of the 30-man squad, which was selected by the IMC on Tuesday, at the Windjammer Hotel. However, even with Anthony’s declaration and the release of the GCB 31-man team, the cricketing community will have to keep their fingers crossed until after tomorrow’s meeting.
Clear
A WICB source had told this newspaper on Wednesday evening that the WICB’s position is clear on who presents a list of players, stating clearly that the “IMC team will not be accepted.” The source had also pointed out that should the stalemate continue between the GCB and IMC, Guyana’s opening game next week against the Leeward Islands will be moved from the Guyana National Stadium at Providence to another venue.
Barbados, who have drawn a bye in the first round, will replace Guyana and oppose the Leeward Islands, in their opening fixture, prompting the source to say that Guyana will only be able to keep its match date if a GCB team is submitted.
However, the minister contended that should such a situation occur it will be dealt with, saying further that he “hopes it doesn’t happen.” Anthony, who set up the IMC last December, said that the government has not received any official word from the WICB that its eventual team will not be accepted and therefore the IMC continue with its mandate of preparing the team and cleaning up the image of Guyana’s cricket.
Stabroek Sport also learnt from an insider yesterday at the Windjammer that the team practiced yesterday but the practice session at the Stadium was thwarted by persistent heavy showers. Stabroek Sport learnt that only 11 of the 30 players assembled for the practice session.
The insider also said that there will be a practice match this weekend among the 30 selected players, revealing that the proposed captain Ramnaresh Sarwan is also out of the country and is expected to join the team today.
Handful
On the other hand, the minister was up in arms about officials from the GCB not cooperating to remedy the current cricket imbroglio. According to Anthony it is “only a handful of people obstructing the process of development and I hope they would stop being unreasonable and selfish.”
The minister is of the view that some of the officials are only interested in the furtherance of their own agenda and not the development of cricket.
Anthony questioned why it was difficult for the GCB officials to embrace the concept of the IMC being a short-term body. The minister stressed that the IMC has already been divided into sub-committees and the work to regularise the cricket is underway.
“Why is it so hard to embrace the concept that the government is not here to take over? If the GCB cooperates the faster we will get things sorted,” Anthony maintained.
He disclosed that the financial documents were requested of the GCB executive, along with access to be granted to the Regent Road offices so that an inventory could have been done but these requests were refused.
This resulted in the ministry placing locks on the doors in addition to the locks that were placed by the GCB.
