THERE is no doubt that when it comes to international cricket in Guyana cricket-loving fans in this Land of Many Waters flock the Guyana National Stadium to catch a glimpse of the action irrespective of the two teams who will do battle for supremacy in the middle.

The inaugural Limacol Caribbean Premier League (LCPL), which will see six franchise teams with a mixture of international and regional players, is set to bowl off today in Barbados and culminate on August 24 with a grand finale at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago.
Guyana’s franchise team, who are being called the Amazon Warriors and will be led by former Guyana and West Indies skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan, are currently preparing for their matches in this tournament. The winning team will be given a spot in next year’s ICC Champions League.
However, it pains me, as a well known journalist in Guyana and certain parts of the Caribbean, to observe the secrecy behind the preparations leading up to the LCPL, where one media house is being given the information as it relates to the day-to-day affairs of the Amazon Warriors.
I’ve had the distinct privilege of reporting on several regional four-day and Super50 matches across the Caribbean, along with Test and One Day Internationals involving the West Indies team, not to mention the Guyana leg of the 2009 International Cricket Council’s T20 World Cup and the 2008 Stanford 20/20 tournament.
My first qualm has to do with Media Accreditation passes for the LCPL.
Upon receiving the email which directed me to make my application for this pass, I made a telephone call and was told that I can only be accredited for the Guyana leg of the LCPL, even though I had intentions to cover the Amazon Warriors matches throughout the tournament, wherever it was feasible for me to do so.
How is it that for a tournament of such magnitude – based on the media information that has been peddling around prior to today’s opening encounter – media personnel can only be accredited for their home-based territories?
If I need to go to Barbados to report on our very own Devendra Bishoo’s performance when the Barbados Tridents are taking on Trinidad and Tobago’s Red Steel, then I have to make an application to the Barbados-based LCPL head office for an accreditation?
When I covered the Stanford 2008 tournament, my Media Accreditation – which I still possess – granted me the right to report on the tournament all the way to the Final Four, while another was issued for the Final Four matches.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), who willingly endorsed the LCPL, recently issued me with a Media Accreditation pass that grants me the privilege to report on any WICB tournament within the Caribbean until December 31 2015.
Second qualm is the exclusive priority that is being given to Guyana Times, as it relates to the Amazon Warriors and their day-to-day affairs.
Yes we are all aware that the owner of the Guyana Times has bought the franchise for the Amazon Warriors, but why things are being centred on one media entity, when Guyana has several media entities, both in the field of print and non-print.
I read in the Guyana Times online about the Amazon Warriors’ visit to the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation plant at Farm, East Bank Demerara with a smile, until the agony stepped in when I did not see the article in any of the other three dailies.
When I made calls to enquire who had knowledge of the team’s visit to the plant, many of my colleagues (who are not employed with the Guyana Times) replied in the negative and said they were only aware when the publication was made.
Yes, you may say that we are probably tardy while the Sportswriters of the Guyana Times are on the ball as it relates to the Amazon Warriors’ preparation for this year’s LCPL. I would say to you, the same medium that was used to inform that entity of the team’s visit could have been professional enough to notify the other media houses.
We cannot say that the Amazon Warriors are our own on the one hand and on the other hand first-hand information on the team is divulged to one daily newspaper in a country that has four dailies and several city-based television stations.
The advisers for the Guyana-based LCPL need to sit down and revisit their public relations strategy since at the moment it carries a stench that is far worse than a wet vicinity of Bourda Market. strewn with garbage.
When I spoke with head coach of the Amazon Warriors, Roger Harper, last month as it relates to the team’s composition and expectations, coupled with the commencement of training, I was reliably informed that a few practice matches would be organised.
Lo and behold, if I was not passing the Guyana National Stadium last Saturday night and if did not see all six pillions lighted up, I would not have known the Amazon Warriors were engaged in a practice encounter against a Leon Johnson-led Rest XI, a game they lost by five wickets in a last-ball thriller.
When I called one of my colleagues at Guyana Times, he chuckled and said yes the game was being played and it commenced at 19:00hrs.
What a total disaster, that cricket is being played, albeit a practice encounter and the number of spectators who were there to witness the action could be counted on my two hands, since they were made aware of the contest by the players from the Rest XI.
Come on, guys, cricket is our own and there is no way we should be secretive on the day-to-day affairs, as it relates to the Amazon Warriors. My inbox is flooded with emails as it relates to the Tridents, Red Steel, Zouks, Tallawahs and Hawksbills.
Even at the time of writing this article, I got an email informing me of Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg taking an equity interest in the Barbados Tridents endorsing of the LCPL.
His words were, “I’m excited to be a part of the Limacol Caribbean Premier League because I know cricket is huge in the Caribbean and a rich part of the region’s heritage. Sports and entertainment are a powerful combination, and the LCPL will appeal to a huge audience worldwide. Thanks to my dear friend Ajmal Khan who introduced me to Barbados and the LCPL, I am a huge cricket fan now.”
You may wonder why I used that quote in this article, but the answer is plain as daylight even on a cloudy day, we know of things outside of Guyana as it relates to the LCPL, but not of the Amazon Warriors, our very own.
Lastly, I uplifted the Media Accreditations – yes I got mine – for my colleagues here at Chronicle Sport and having handed over to my photographer his Accreditation, he asked me how he will take pictures for my article when the games are being played here.
He posed that question to me, since he was accredited for areas 1, 2 and 3, but not 4, where he could have sat behind the advertising boards which will line the boundary edges and take his photos.
A telephone call was made and I was informed that Getty Images were contracted to take photos of the matches and if they see it fit to allow any local photographer to take photos at an appropriate time, then that personnel would be issued with a badge at that time to do so, one that he/she will have to return at the end of the game.
So why ask media houses to send accreditation for a photographer when Getty Images would be taking on that responsibility and added to that, what if per say, Getty Images does not make available for publication purposes, photos of a match until three hours after, what must the print media fraternity do?
Both the WICB and ICC issue Media Accreditation passes for photographers, giving them the right to take pictures from behind the advertising billboards, even though they would have other capable photographers assigned for such purposes.
Cricket is a Caribbean thing and certainly, thousands of persons will come out to play on game day, but please, stop the secrecy as it relates to the Amazon Warriors and their preparations and let all be involved, since all will jump up and rejoice when they win their matches in this tournament.