GCB official says Manager allowed Chanderpaul to leave team

Jan 21, 2011 Sports

Batsman had to attend court in Florida

By Sean Devers in Barbados
In association with Digicel, Carib Beer,
Leisure Inn, GSL, Queensway &
Dave’s West Indian Imports (NY)

A Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) official explained that West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul was allowed by team Management to miss Guyana’s Caribbean T20 match against the Windward Islands last Tuesday to attend a court hearing in Florida on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old left-hander, only behind Brian Lara among West Indian Test run-scorers with 9,063 runs at an average of 48.98 with 22 centuries, opened the batting against CCC and with the top-order struggling, was expected to play a pivotal role in keeping Guyana’s hopes of a repeat title alive.
The official said Chanderpaul, who opted out of last year’s tournament because of commitments with English County team Durham, would have been available had Guyana qualified for their fourth semi-final from as many Regional T20 tournaments.
Chanderpaul has struggled in T20 cricket despite his magnificent performances in Tests, First-Class and ODI matches. He has a strike rate of less than 100 and an average under 18 from 38 T20 matches and scored 8 and 5 in the first two games in Antigua, including the opening match against Jamaica when Guyana fell for 65; the lowest total in a Regional T20 game.
The GCB official explained that Chairman of Selectors Claude Raphael and the other executives were informed by outgoing GCB President Chetram Singh via e-mail, that the team management in Barbados had allowed Chanderpaul to miss Tuesday’ game.
With Chanderpaul unavailable, the defending Champions, hunting the G$12.5 Million first prize and trip to India for the Champions League, lost by 2 runs chasing 139 for victory in a game they had to win to qualify for the semi-finals.
This is the second time that Manager Carl Moore has allowed Chanderpaul to leave the team when needed against the Windward Islands.
The dependable batsman left the team during his unfinished 78 against the Islanders in March 2008 at Providence to collect an award in Trinidad, prompting Windward’s Manager Lockhart Sebastian to publically say the incident reduced the game to a ‘curry goat’ match.
Chanderpaul made himself unavailable for both Regional T20 tournaments that Guyana won (2006 & 2010) but played in the other two (2008 & 2011) which they failed to win and another GCB member said a dressing room ‘incident’ at Enmore during the 2009 Regional 50-over match against the Leewards was ‘swept under the carpet’ despite a report from the Manager because of the ‘sensitive personal issues’ the batsman was experiencing at the time.
A GCB executive expressed disappointment that after being selected for a format which does not ideally suit his style, the world-rated Test batsman was unavailable when needed and disrupted the team’s planning and batting order.
“We only knew permission was granted after it was done. It was not a life or death emergency. A lot of time and money was invested in this team after they won last year.
Even the (Guyana) Government understood what the success meant to the Guyanese people and how their participation in a world event could help Guyana as a country and they played a major role with funding,” the source informed.
“After the experience of
playing in South Africa we hoped the team would have improved and qualified for India. The fact that all of our players were not available for a key match that we lost when injury was not a factor, was disappointing,” the official said.
“If I am still a part of the Board after elections, one of the things I will be pushing for is that seminars be held to make players understand the importance of representing their country and its people and what their responsibilities should be. The players and Management staff are paid to do a job and these tours are not excursions,” the official concluded.
The GCB’s biannual elections are set for January 30 and Singh is not seeking re-election after 19 years as President.

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GCB official says Manager allowed Chanderpaul to leave team

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