,,, still wants to play for Guyana

TORONTO, Canada – Former Guyana fast bowler Jeremy Gordon is peeved at the way he was treated by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) selectors during a visit to his native land last December.

In an exclusive interview with Chronicle Sport, Gordon, who also represented Guyana at the Under-19 level in 2005-2006, described his interaction with chairman of the GCB selectors, Rayon Griffith, “as a royal round around.”
The 27-year-old lanky pacer, who migrated to Canada in 2006 and has been a permanent fixture in his adopted country’s side in all formats of the game, pointed out that he still has a burning desire to play for Guyana but felt that this hope is fading rapidly since the GCB selectors are ignoring his wishes.
According to Gordon, despite playing in Canada, he returned periodically to play first division cricket in Guyana and had intimated his desire to represent Guyana also in 2012, He claimed that he also spoke to officials of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) about his intentions.
Gordon said he was told that he “needed to play cricket in Guyana before he could be considered for national selection.” Acknowledging that he had no problem with the directive, Gordon said “I explained to them that I am a regular member of the Canadian national team and I work full time and it will be tough but I will make every effort.”
Gordon, who made his Guyana first class debut at the Albion Community Centre ground against the Leeward Islands in January 2007 and has played two other matches for his homeland, said that as recent as last year he was advised by Griffith to return for the 2013 Inter-county tournament and he would be included in the Rest (President’s XI) side.
There was further frustration for an expectant Gordon when he arrived in Guyana, as, according to him, the chairman of selectors informed him that he hasn’t seen him bowl and so couldn’t include him in the squad.
Boasting that he had a “pretty good summer”, Gordon who played for Canada as recent as January, leading up to the 2015 World Cup, for which his team failed to qualify, said he’s still hopeful “that things can change as getting another opportunity to expose his cricket ability at the highest level was something for which he had worked over the last few years.
“It was a great privilege to represent Guyana and I still have ambition of rekindling my games for them.”
Gordon, who plays for Brampton Masters in the Toronto and District Elite competition, stated that cricket in the North American country was very competitive, since there is a large number of expatriate players from cricket-playing nations featuring on an annual basis.
The New Amsterdam-born cricketer feels the game keeps improving at a rapid pace since there are players from different parts of the world plying their trade and also to improve their skills, “and that has given us the encouragement to work harder on our cricket all-round.”
Gordon made his ODI debut for Canada against Scotland in July 2012 and played his first T20 game versus Ireland in Abu Dhabi in November 2013.
His maiden first class game was against Netherlands at the Maple Leaf ground in Toronto in August, 2013 while his last T20 match was against Kenya in Sharjah in November 2013.
Gordon has captured 23 wickets in five first-class matches at an average of 21.08 with six for 43 being his best. He has also taken six scalps in five ODIs and 15 in 13 T20s.

(By Frederick Halley)