Dear Editor,
As was the case with the Guyana team, so it is with the West Indian one; many are the complaints. I see that members of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) are quite unhappy with the non-selection of even a single Guyanese on the West Indies Twenty20 team against Ireland. This was expected and I have a few comments in this regard.
I go back to the selection of the Guyana NAGICO Super50 tournament. One of the appointed selectors objected to a late comer turning up for the team selection. This was objected to by Sheik Mohamed and he subsequently resigned. This kind of thing happened with Sheik more than once.
The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) was least bothered and no one took note of the immoral nature of the selection. I know that a few people from the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) voiced their feelings, but still nothing really came out of the matter and issues went back to normal.
I recall what one man said. Apparently privy to inside information, he opined that the team was very disgruntled and that there will be some kind of sabotage.
Go back if you care and see who got sick, what the sicknesses were and when they occurred. I may be overly suspicious, but I sense the lack of camaraderie and cohesion in the Guyana squad, even before members departed.
Go now to the West Indies team and let us face facts and reality. The coach and captain are not people with great track records. Also, the present coach Otis Gibson is not too good with relationship matters. He was rude to both Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, and there seems to be a distancing between this coach and a few players.
So team selection for the West Indies is hinged on emotions, desires to get even, territorial preferences and prejudice; same with Guyana, where the prejudice seems quite the norm.
So a lot of people and local board members are just as displeased with the GCB as is the GCB over the selection choices of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) selection panel with the team selected to represent the West Indies.
Overall, local cricket is not stirring the populace. Berbice seems to be in a league all by itself – it is doing great and I am hoping that all Guyana will learn from what is happening in this little county.
Sincerely,
Fitzroy Wilson