GUYANA and West Indies middle-order batsmen Ramnaresh Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine and Travis Dowlin were the bright lights at the end of another dark and gloomy tunnel for the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) in 2009.

It has been three years since their 2006 Stanford 20/20 victory over Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) that our senior team has brought home any silverware to the GCB’s cabinet and last year was no different, with a more dismal performance, especially in the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President’s Cup.

Deonarine scored 1 068 runs, becoming the first man to have scored 1 000 runs in a WICB first class season, but amidst all of that, Guyana, who were led by Dowlin until the final match of the double rounded tournament, ended in the cellar position on 32 points.

Deonarine strived off consistency, a word he looked at and memorised throughout the year, whether it was for Albion Sports Club, Berbice, Guyana or the West Indies and it was no surprise when he was given a recall to represent the Regional side against Bangladesh.

A players boycott over a contract dispute saw none of the senior members (Deonarine included), wear the maroon cap against the Bengal Tigers, but after that was resolved (or that’s how it appears to be,) the senior guys including Deonarine made their way Down Under to face Australia.

Deonarine, who was later named the GCB’s Senior Regional Cricketer-of-the-Year, got his chance in the final Test and he made great use of his final innings, with a resilient 82 as the Windies lost the Test by 34 runs and the series two-nil.

Sarwan’s feats spoke for themselves, following a remarkably fine series against England at home in which he scored three centuries including his second double century and highest Test score (291), as he took away the Man-of-the-Series trophy.

He continued his run-scoring feat in the first Test of the return series in England two months later, where he scored a ton in the second Test at Chester-le-Street, which was not enough to prevent the Englishmen from romping to victory inside three days.

There is a proverb which says, “Behind every dark cloud is a silver lining” and certainly, that can be attributed to the 32-year-old Dowlin.

The players boycott against Bangladesh earned him a belated Test debut, in which he narrowly missed out on his maiden Test ton in the second Test when he fell for 95, but made amends with a ton in the limited overs series that followed which was enough to earn him a ticket to Australia.

In his president’s address at the 2009 GCB annual award ceremony last week Tuesday, president of the GCB Chetram Singh was quick to point out to those gathered including Minister of Culture, Youth And Sport Dr Frank Anthony and Chief Executive Officer of the WICB Dr Ernest Hilaire, the GCB was able to complete 90% of their competitions thanks to the weather which was excellent.

But despite the good weather at home, apparently bad weather followed all our national teams around, as no silverware was brought home by anybody, whether male or female.

The GCB was asked to host and they did so successfully three tournaments – the Regional Women’s limited overs tournament, the West Indies Blind Cricket tournament and the Regional Limited overs tournament.

The national Under-15 and U-19 teams contested Regional tournaments overseas and even though their performance was up to standard (but could have been better in some instances) they did not bring home any bacon for the storage cupboard.

What must be mentioned, however, is the performance of Junior Cricketer-of-the-Year Trevon Griffith who struck Guyana’s lone ton and also the most runs in the WICB/TCL Regional Youth tournament in Jamaica, which earned him a place on the West Indies Youth team to New Zealand for the Youth World Cup.

Seventeen-year-old fast bowler Keon Joseph, who was being plagued by injuries, continued to mesmerise the opposing batting lineup with his pace, which earned him a place on the team to New Zealand.

On the local scene, both Demerara and Berbice continued to dominate the Inter-county tournaments that were organised by the GCB, but what should be of concern to the local governing body is the mediocre performance of the Cinderella County, Essequibo.

In the GCB President’s Cup four-team competition which involved the three county teams and a Rest team, Essequibo started brightly when they took first innings points from Demerara, but lost that game and subsequently all other games to end in the cellar position.

Berbice took the title, with the Rest Team, which was led by national wicketkeeper Derwin Christian and included players who were unable to make their county team, occupying the runner-up position and Demerara third.

It was not a bad idea to re-introduce Essequibo back into the fray after a one-year hiatus, but their performance and even the inability to field a quality team to compete against their opponents, left much to be desired and unless the GCB act and act immediately to resurrect an already dying cricket fraternity in the Cinderella County, not much can be expected from them in future tournaments.

In their game against Berbice which they lost by an innings and 375 runs, three schoolboys were used and even though one may argue that it augurs well for the players, using Chanderpaul and India’s Sachin Tendulkar, two players who made their Test debut as teenagers as examples, what needs to be taken into consideration is that they were consistent performers for their teams.

Trevor Benn’s selection to the national team, where he followed in the footsteps of his former captai
n Trevon Garraway, must have placed a smile on many Essequibians’ face, but even though the talent is there in the Cinderella County, how those in charge handle it leaves much to be desired.

On the distaff side, the national female team copied their male counterparts when they failed to win a game in the WICB tournament which was hosted here, but Berbice’s Shemaine Campbell and Tremayne Smartt were selected to represent the West Indies in the women’s World Cup.

As is customary in cricket these days, lots of off-the-field battles ensued and Guyana had its fair share, with legal battles taking place among local board members, with one County board president taking legal action against his executive members.

Whatever the outcome of that and other issues, it is time the nation’s motto ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny’ be the impetus, as we seek to resurrect and take Guyana’s cricket back to the days when every young child wanted to be a Clive Lloyd, Andrew Lyght or Clayton Lambert.

As the saying goes: ‘hand wash hand make hand come clean’ and unless some executives who are in charge of administering and not dictating the game of cricket in the Land of Many Waters, wash each other hands, we won’t go forward, but rather take retrograde steps as the years roll by.