Letter to the Sports Editor
AFTER I saw the caption RE – ‘Sarwan Snubbed’ on the back page of Wednesday’s Edition (September 1, 2010) of the Stabroek Newspapers, I decided to read the article and while reading it, I observed that the West Indies Cricket Board had announced that the central retainer contracts for Messrs Ramnaresh Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine and Travis Dowlin had not been renewed but Messrs Andre Fletcher, Devon Smith and Kieron Pollard had been offered similar contracts for the new period October 1, 2010 to the September 30, 2011.
I then decided to check the batting averages of the top current ten WICB players in Test Cricket and One-Day Internationals. and my findings are as follows:-
( A )  TEST CRICKET

Player     M     RUNS    AVG    100″s   50″s
S. Chanderpaul     126      8,969        49.28        22           54
R. Sarwan              83      5,759        41.73        15           31
D. Bernard (Jnr)       3        202        40,40         –               3
C. Gayle                88      6,007        40.31        12           33
B. Nash                 15         889        37.04         2             6
A .Barath                2          139        34.75        1             –
D. Bravo                 37      2,175        32.46        3             13
T. Dowlin                 6         343         31.18        –               3
N. Deonarine            8          370        30.83        –               2
D,Smith                31      1,315        24.81        1              4

( B )                               O.D.I

PLAYER                MAT        RUNS      AVG        100″s     50″s      S/R
1            
R Sarwan             156        5,098        43.94            4       33          77.52
S, Chanderpaul      261        8,648        41.17          11       59          71.11
C. Gayle                217        7,830        39.74          19       41          83.71
R. Morton               56        1,519         33.75           2       10          66.36
N. Deonarine          20           510         31.87           –          4          69.48
B. Nash                  9            104         26.00           –          –           73.75
T. Dowlin               11            228         25.33           1         1          65.51
D. Smith                32           681          24.32           –         3          69.63
D. Sammy             43           508          24.19           –         2          95.16
D. Bravo             107         1,715         25.15           1        5          82.13

Comments
Messrs Ramnaresh Sarwan, Travis Dowlin and Narsingh Deonarine are 2nd, 8th and 9th respectively in the listings of the top ten in Test matches while. Devon Smith is in the 10th position. It seems as though the WICB is giving priority to players when they are from the bottom rather than when they are higher up in the listings
In the ODI, Messrs Ramnaresh Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine and Travis Dowlin are 1st 5th and 7th respectively while Mr Devon Smith is in the 8th position. Again these Guyana players are higher in the listings than Mr Devon Smith.
Messrs Andre Fletcher and Kieron Pollard could not even find a place in the top ten in the ODI Matches because their averages were-17.06 and 19.92 respectively. Further, they have not played Test cricket as yet.
I believe that we need effective representation from our two WICB representatives when these matters are being discussed at their meetings.
I am also calling on the Minister of Sport of Guyana to write the West Indies Cricket Board   and ask them to outline what criteria they are using to offer these contracts to the players so that the cricketing public could be very clear on this system.
It was reported in our newspapers that the Minister of Sport for Trinidad and Tobago will be making a similar inquiry. as regard to the non-renewal of Mr D, Ramdin’s central retainer contract.

In addition to the statistical information stated above, Mr R. Sarwan won three prestigious awards in the year 2009 although he was unfortunately injured in the said year and they were as follows:-

(a) The Cricketer of the Year for WIPA
(b) The Senior Cricketer of the Year for Guyana
(c) The Sportsman of the Year for Guyana
He could not have won these awards if he didn’t perform very well in the matches he played in 2009 and to achieve these performances, one has to be fit physically.
Further he just led the Guyana Senior Team to victory in the inaugural 20/20 Tournament held in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.  As a result of the team’s marvellous performance and his astute leadership, they are presently competing in a high-profile 20/20 Tournament in South Africa.
When the West Indies Cricket Board announced that Messrs Ramnaresh Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine and Travis Dowlin’s central retainer contracts had not been renewed, to my mind, it was very discomforting and demoralising because these players were seriously preparing for Airtel Championship 20/20 Tournament in South Africa. Therefore when the three senior Executives of the Guyana Cricket Board – Messrs Bissoondyal Singh, Claude Raphael and Ronald Williams had publicly condemned the time when the announcement was made, it was very comforting and motivating to the players because they had realised that at least some of their executives are supporting them.
So I don’t agree with those persons who wrote articles in the newspapers condemning these brave gentlemen.
After I looked at the composition of the touring party that was selected to travel to the present Tournament in South Africa I realised that the Technical Staff needed a seasoned and very experienced coach to work along with the national coach, Mr. R. Seeram. Therefore one of the Administrative Officials should not have been included in the maximum list of twenty-three persons who were allowed to be on the travelling party by the authorities responsible for the Tournament. My omission and inclusion would have been the Secretary Mr A. Sanasie and Mr R, Harper respectively. My reasons are as follows;-
(a) The Secretary would not have much work to do at the Tournament, because the team has a Manager, who is Carl Moore, and he is capable of performing all the Administrative duties
(b) Roger Harper is a Level 3 coach who is a very high grade in the coaching fraternity. He served with distinction as one of the leading coaches in the defunct Shell Academy for West Indies Cricketers which was lo
cated in Grenada. He also served as the West Indies Cricket Coach for the Senior Team. He had a coaching stint for two years with the Kenya’s Government. And also he did short stints of coaching with previous National Teams. So Mr Harper should have been selected to be on the touring party as the supportive coach to Mr. R. Seeram.

Conclusion
I am therefore recommending that the GUYANA CRICKET BOARD (G.C.B) should lodge a protest to the WEST INDIES CRICKET BOARD about the decisions made as regard to the offering of these contracts to their respective players,