SPORT Minister Dr Frank Anthony and acting president of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), Bissoondial Singh, expressed disgust and dissatisfaction at Guyana receiving less than its fair share of next year’s ICC World Cup Twenty20 games, as was previously agreed when bidding papers were sent in.

Minister Frank Anthony expresses Guyana’s disappointment yesterday in the ministry’s conference room. He is flanked by Permanent Secretary Steve Ninvalle and GCB acting president Bissoondial Singh.

Yesterday in the Ministry’s conference room Minister Anthony referred to the scale down from the initial ten matches to six as a “disappointment and nasty surprise”.

Anthony also felt that there should have been a more “transparent and fair way of allocating matches”.

Initially, the minister, who is also the head of the local Oversight Committee, stated that that they were led to believe that Guyana would have received a semi-final game. Further, he stated Guyana understood that more important games, for example Super Eight matches would be substituted for matches of lesser importance.

“In subsequent changes in schedule the ten matches were still retained but the level of the matches varied and we understood that because of logistical preparations. What, however was very shocking to us was that leading up to the launching ceremony of the ICC Twenty20 we (Guyana) did not receive any schedule on the final arrangements,” Minister Anthony elaborated.

Anthony reported that when the ICC inspectorate team visited Guyana and was impressed with Guyana’s facilities to host its quota of matches, he enquired about the schedule and an answer was not forthcoming. In fact he said that he referred to the team, headed by Tournament Director Ernest Hillaire, as being “evasive” when asked about the schedule of matches.

Minister and his team and the GCB feel disenfranchised by the recent moves by ICC and main organising committee headed by Hillaire. In addition Anthony remembers that in all schedules, dating back to the 2007 World Cup, Guyana was entitled to hosting super eight matches.

“It turns out now that we are not getting any super eight matches. There are two days when we are only going to get one match at Providence. That was not what we were discussing and now we are very concerned and deeply disappointed with the way the process has gone and I don’t think we are being treated fairly,” the peeved Minister explained.

When the minister was asked whether an enquiry was made into Guyana being shortchanged, Anthony stated that an electronic mail (e-mail) was sent to Hillaire but he did not receive a response.

He went on to state that Guyana will follow up the matter and the country will continue to plan for the event despite the fact that GCB and the ministry have not yet received a formal schedule.

On the other hand, the minister is baffled at the changes especially since Guyana has been doing all in its power to ensure that Guyana is ready to host the event. He stated that personnel have been trained and are volunteering to ensure that Guyana’s leg is successful.

“We have worked very hard to make sure that we set up a process that we can relate to the regional body to ensure the Guyana leg is trouble-free. We have gone to that length to facilitate that, hence our disappointment”, the minister said.

According to Singh, GCB was “unpleasantly surprised” with the announcement of the fixtures. He also echoed the sentiments of Anthony questioning why Guyana, a huge fixture in West Indies cricket, was not a part of the process to ensure territories get their correct quota of matches.