FOLLOWING the non-selection of any Guyanese on the West Indies team to face Ireland in three T20 Internationals commencing tomorrow in Jamaica, the governing body for the sport in Guyana, the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) expressed its disappointment at the non-selection of any Guyanese player on the Windies 14-man squad.In so doing, the GCB through a press release expressed its regret at the selection choices of the West Indies Cricket Board Selection panel headed by Guyana’s very own Clyde Butts, calling it mind-boggling, especially taking into consideration, the performances of some players in the just concluded WICB NAGICO Super50 tournament that was won by Barbados.
Below is the full release sent by the GCB, which certainly questions the criteria for selection used by the WICB Selection panel:
“The GCB wishes to express its extreme regret at the selection choices of the selection panel with the teams selected to represent the West Indies during the upcoming tour of Ireland.
The GCB notes with serious concern the non-selection of any Guyanese, whatsoever, to these teams selected by the selection panel. Whilst the GCB does not subscribe to a quota system for selection, we strongly feel that players should be selected based on merit and performance.
In this regard, it is indeed mind-boggling that the selectors felt that Christopher Barnwell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Leon Johnson, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo and Ronsford Beaton were not considered worthy of selection for any of the teams announced.
The Regional tournaments are usually the yardstick used to select representative teams for the West Indies.
Two of the above batsmen made it into the top five run aggregates for the just concluded NAGICO Super50 tournament, even though these players did not play all of the matches and we find it rather difficult to reconcile the thought process of our selection panel.
The GCB wishes to record its extreme displeasure and loss of confidence in the selection panel and would like an explanation as to why these players were not selected, while the Guyanese public is justifiably peeved at the treatment meted out to its players by this panel and call on the WICB to investigate this situation immediately”.