Essequibo protest Gajanand Singh’s participation for Demerara

Dec 04, 2008 Sports

Protest could affect tomorrow night’s 20/20 final

Gajanand Singh

The Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) has filed a protest to the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) over the participation of former Berbice left-hander Gajanand Singh for Demerara against Essequibo in Berbice last Sunday in the Pepsi/Carib Inter-County 20/20 cricket competition.

Singh, who made his first class debut this year, now resides in West Demerara and played in national competition this season for both Berbice club Young Warriors and West Demerara side New A qua Line Farm resulting in the Demerara team being fined $50,000 since, according to the GCB, no player can represent two different clubs in national competitions in the same season.

Singh, who made 15 runs in the game against Essequibo could also soon be called by the GCB to show case why he should not be penalized for breaching the GCB regulation and if found guilty this could affect his national selection for the Carib Beer Series which starts next month.

In a letter obtained by Kaieteur Sports, the ECB claims that Singh, a former West Indies under-19 player, failed to meet the requirements set out in the playing conditions of the inter-county competition.

According to the protest letter which was dated December 1, 2008 “Demerara has breached rule 18 of the playing conditions of the said competition as set out by the Guyana Cricket Board by playing Gajanand Singh who was not qualified to represent Demerara”.

The playing conditions states that:
A player can only represent a particular county if he was born there or if he:-

(i) Obtains a release from the county he previously played for and sanctioned by the Competitions Committee of the GCB

(ii) Registers with a club in his new County at the beginnings of the County’s first division season

(iii) Should participate in all first division cricket competitions run in that particular season.

While Singh has not met any of the above requirements, he could qualify as a guest player but an investigation into the matter will have to be launched which could put in jeopardy tomorrow evening’s final under lights at the Guyana National Stadium if the matter is not handled by tomorrow unless the ECB take back their protest or Demerara drop Singh for the final.

While the protest letter was addressed to the GCB’s Competitions Committee, Chairman of that committee Carl More informed Kaieteur Sports last night that the letter has now been re-directed to the executive of the GCB since he cannot sit on a committee to look at the matter because he has already made his views on the matter public.

Demerara selector Roddy Lovell, who asked to be excused from last week’s meeting to pick the Demerara team, said last evening that he object to Singh’s inclusion on the Demerara team based on the same reasons stated by the ECB protest letter and said he even told the DCB that he hoped Singh selection was not cause a protest from the other two teams. Singh also played the opening round game which was won by Berbice.

Travis Dowlin, who has resigned as Demerara skipper, said he also did not support Singh’s inclusion since unlike Essequibo, Demerara has quality players to choose from and Singh’s inclusion after playing very little cricket in Demerara this season robs a full fledged Demerara player of playing for his county.

A senior GCB official informed that the matter has to be dealt with ‘one way or the other’ before the final begins because it is unlikely that Singh will be allowed to play with the protest pending.

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