Asks Calvin Roberts
WHEN an executive of a County board, who is also the head grounds man, can find the time to verbally abuse a national coach with regard to the attendance to a playing area, instead of executing his duties as a grounds man, one would ask the question, “Where are we going with the gentleman’s game called cricket?” Such an act occurred and was witnessed by this reporter on the final day of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)-organised GTM Under-19 Inter-county three-day tournament between defending champions Berbice and Essequibo at the Anna Regina Community Centre ground last Tuesday.
The heavens opened up briefly at 14:35 h and at 15:10 h, the rains abated, yet the head grounds man who happens to be the Marketing Officer of the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB), preferred to engage himself in a verbal exchange with the coach of the Berbice team, who is also a national Under-19 coach.
It was a scenario that left all in shock, as the official refused to take advantage of the hazy conditions to get the pitch in order so the umpires can proceed with the game, but instead hurled expletives in the direction of the Berbice team coach, in the presence of his charges.
Added to such a scenario were the delaying tactics used to get the pitch back in playing condition and when play finally resumed at 16:20 h, more delaying tactics were employed by the home team, without any intervention from the on-field umpires.
What is shocking to know, is that one of the umpires, who is a well respected individual especially with the Duckworth/Lewis calculations, offered bad light to the batsmen on three occasions in an over which was bowled by national Under-19 fast bowler Ronsford Beaton, and took exactly 10 minutes to complete.
When this was done, national Under-15 vice-captain and left-arm orthodox spinner Ricardo Adams was about to hand his hat to the standing umpire to commence the start of the eighth over in the final hour’s play, only to see same being refused as the other umpire pulled stumps at 17:49 h.
When asked for the reason the stumps were pulled, the umpire said a fast bowler was going to bowl, but later was overheard saying his colleague had difficulty seeing, that’s why he pulled stumps while a spinner was getting ready to bowl, hence the question: “Where are we going with the gentleman’s game?”
Now I know the umpire is a vital figure on the field of play and yes at times he needs clear vision, but there were two batsmen at the wicket battling it out so their team could record a come-from-behind victory which was a mere 13 runs away and the umpires after offering light on three occasions when a fast bowler who was not bowling short-pitched deliveries was in operation, opted to stop play just as a spinner was about to bowl.
Added to that, inconsistency on the part of one of the umpires, who followed the Rule book to a T but buckled against unnecessary pressure in the last hour of play, needs to be investigated by the GCB.
In Essequibo’s first innings, wicketkeeper Andy Mohan took off one of his gloves to effect a run-out at the non-striker’s end and having failed to gather the ball, saw it ricochet onto his glove that was on the field of play.
The umpire immediately added 5 penalty runs, which turned out to be a telling factor, to Essequibo’s total as they led by six runs on first innings, but refused to even utter one word of caution during the first over of the final hour which took nine minutes to complete.
Added to that, the final over which was again bowled by Beaton took 10 minutes to complete with both the umpires and the fielding side (Essequibo) wasting time with the former offering light on three occasions, while the latter over threw the ball on each occasion it was going back to the bowler.
Some may argue that the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), who has filed a protest to the GCB, would lose such a case, but in my mind they have all right to do so taking into consideration, the inefficiency of the two standing umpires and to a point, the match referee.
When a sponsor pumps money, in this case $3.2M, into a tournament, they expect efficiency and consistency from all involved, including players and officials, not mediocrity on and off the field and certainly the management of GTM, who are all cricket enthusiasts, would be appalled to know of this scenario in such a prestigious tournament, that has produced players of the calibre of Carl Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Reon King and Travis Dowlin just to name a few.
Added to that, something definitely needs to be done with regard to the actions of the ECB executive who, according to reports, has not been functioning effectively as the marketing officer of the County board, but always finds himself in precarious positions with visiting team officials.
They say when it rains it pours and certainly it is pouring on Guyana’s cricket at the moment, as problems are surfacing from all angles, but what is the outcome of this scenario is left to be seen.
It’s either we do something or one day we will wake up and find the players and umpires in position, but no cricket to play, why, because we killed the game – DEAD – and I would not want to be around for either the funeral service or the burial proceedings of the gentleman’s game we all love so much.