… no room for Garraway and Ferrier
THE senior selection panel of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB), led by Robert ‘Pacer’ Adonis, has selected the County’s team to contest the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)-organised El Dorado-sponsored senior Inter-county limited overs tournament, which gets under way this Saturday.
Notable absentees from the Ramnaresh Sarwan-led unit are national fast bowler Trevon Garraway and Guyana/Stanford 20/20  player  Dion Ferrier, while former national Under-19 left-arm spinner Totaram Bishun and present national Under-19 players Andre Stoll and Amir Khan are included in the line-up.
Also selected are dependable West Indies middle-order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, along with Vishaul Singh who recently broke Justin Langer’s aggregate while playing for Sandwich Town in Kent League cricket in England, Steven Jacobs, Christopher Barnwell, Travis Dowlin and Derwin Christian.
The omissions of Garraway and Ferrier, who are arguably two of the most committed cricketers in Demerara, by the selection panel, which included Mark Harper, Rohan Sarjoo, Raymond Barton and Krischand Mangal, were the questions posed to president of the DCB Bissoondyal Singh.
Asked to comment on the selection policies, Singh said it’s a technical job in which the five members of the selection panel are being tasked to execute and which he can offer no comment.
Garraway forfeited his right to play for Essequibo in any Inter-county competition after having a fall-out with a senior Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) official late last year and has been representing the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in all Georgetown Cricket Association-organised competitions in the Garden City.
While Stoll’s progress as a young fast bowler must be noted, certainly his selection ahead of Garraway who would give over 100% in the team must be questioned, unless the selectors were looking at a variety with regard to his bowling style, while no amount of answers can justify Bishun being selected over Ferrier.
Demerara play their first game against Berbice at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground on Sunday, before engaging Essequibo at the Anna Regina Community Centre ground on October 6.
The Demerara 15 man squad reads: Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Christopher Barnwell, Rajendra Chandrika, Shemroy Barrington, Vishaul Singh, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Leon Johnson, Steven Jacobs, Derwin Christian, Zaheer Mohammed, Travis Dowlin, Amir Khan, Totaram Bishun, Kellon Carmichael and Andre Stoll.
The six standbys are: Trevon Garraway, Joseph Perry, Dion Ferrier, Jamal Hinckson, Trevon Griffith and Raj Nanan.