Sarwan to lead Demerara in GCB 4-day competition

Oct 30, 2010 Sports

Ramnaresh Sarwan

Trevon Garraway

Gets another chance to prove match readiness

By Sean Devers
Chairman of the West Indies selectors Clyde Butts will have another opportunity to see Guyana Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan in action when the right-hander, overlooked for next month’s tour to Sri Lanka, lead Demerara in next month’s four-team Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) senior 4-Day tournament.
The 30-year-old Sarwan who played the last of his 83 Tests last December has recovered from an injury which kept him out of the home series against South Africa and has represented Guyana in three tournaments, including the Champions League T20 competition in South Africa, since then.
Sarwan averages over 40 in Tests, ODIs and First- Class cricket and showed no discomfort during his high-class 72 in the Guyana’s last game in South Africa or his Man-of-the-Match 63 in Jamaica this month.
However, the 53-year-old Butts, who dominated with his off-spin at the First-Class level between 1980 and 1994 but only managed a wicket every 26 overs in his 7 Tests in which he averaged 59.50 for his 10 wickets, claims that Sarwan’s omission was based on his fitness level and not his batting ability.
Many, including former Test players and members of Parliament in both the Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago Governments, have criticized the Guyanese Butts for not picking Sarwan, who averages 57 against Sri Lanka for a tour in which his ability against spin could have played a major role for the visitors.

Travis Dowlin

Andre Stoll

Despite statements from the WICB and Butts, It is suspected that politics and Sarwan’s public support of WIPA has put him in the WICB ‘bad books’ resulting in his contract snub and subsequent non-selection at a time when, as former West Indies batsman Maurice Foster said ‘a three quarters fit Sarwan would make a bigger impact with the bat against Sri Lanka than most others in the West Indies’.
Sarwan is also scheduled to play in a T20 tournament in Florida next month but will be available for the ODI series which commences on December 9 in Sri Lanka and all eyes will be on the Butts led selection panel to see how they will determine Sarwan’s match-readiness for the ODI series and who will conduct his fitness test.
In-form opener Rajendra Chandrika, who scored 2 fifties for the High Performance Centre (HPC) in this month’s regional One-Day tournament in Jamaica, West Indies under-19 opener Trevon Griffith (surprisingly not invited to the HCP programme) and West Indies under-17 leg-spinner Amir Khan are also included in the Demerara side which faces Essequibo in their opening match at Anna Regina from November 11.
National pacer Trevon Garraway who was not picked for the Essequibo 50-over team due to the internal factors in Essequibo’s problem plagued cricket has also been picked in the Demerara side.
West Indies opener Travis Dowlin, Derwin Christian and Zaheer Mohamed, all overlooked for Guyana’s One-Day side, are in the Demerara line-up as are National players Chris Barnwell, Leon Johnson and Steven Jacobs.
Under-19 left-arm pacer Andre Stoll, the best pacer in the Inter-County 50-over competition retains his place in the 4-Day team while compact left-hander Vishaul Singh and former National under-19 left-arm unorthodox spinner Totaram Bishun are also in the Demerara squad.
The Demerara team read: Ramnaresh Sarwan (Captain), Rajendra Chandrika, Trevon Griffith, Travis Dowlin, Zaheer Mohamed, Leon Johnson (Vice Captain), Derwin Christian, Steven Jacobs, Amir Khan, Totaram Bishun, Andre Stoll, Vishal Singh, Trevon Garraway, Christopher Barnwell