Letter to the Sports Editor…Major stakeholders of Guyana cricket support parliamentary process

Aug 14, 2013 Sports

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Dear Editor,
I read Intikhab Sankar’s letter (SN of 10th Aug, 2013) which is essentially a pathetic attempt to discredit the work of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on the enactment of laws for the orderly administration of our cricket and am not surprised at the crude crusade on which he has embarked.
Sankar is an extremely close associate of Anand Sanasie, the Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and the Vice-President of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) and it is very obvious that the blatant attack on the Parliamentary process is designed to protect those persons holding themselves out as officers of the DCB and the GCB.
Sankar’s cohorts, Anand Sanasie, Drubahadur, Alfred Mentore, Anand Kalladeen et al, have all been elected to office by only the Essequibo Cricket Board. This is clearly unconstitutional since it requires at least two (2) of the three (3) Boards affiliated to the GCB to form a quorum. However Sanasie and others do not mind as they revel in the chaos that they have caused in cricket and are hell bent on maintaining the confusion.
They are totally averse to any attempt at restoring order to our beloved cricket, while professing that they are interested in a resolution. Evidently, they are content with the present situation since it allows them to operate with impunity and without accountability.
It smacks at the root of indecency when Nazeer Mohamed, Verendra Chintamani and Alvin Johnson of Essequibo and David Black and Carol Nurse of West Berbice have been appointed to manage our national teams ostensibly as a trade-off for their loyalty to the GCB.
To suggest that the persons opposed to the GCB and DCB is a “disgruntled group” is both ludicrous and misleading as this group is made up of and represented by the following:
1.    The Berbice Cricket Board – is constitutionally one-third of the GCB and is led by properly-elected officials including Keith Foster, Anil Beharry, Hubern Evans and Angela Hanif. This Board, over the years, has been producing many Test and National players at all levels.
2.    The East Coast Cricket Board – is one of the four (4) constituent members of the DCB and is led by a properly-elected Executive which includes Bissoondyal Singh, Pretipaul Jaigobin, Raymond Barton, Davteerth Anandjit, Essie Peters and Samaroo Jailall. This Board, over the years, has been producing national players at all levels.
3.    Georgetown Cricket Association – is also one of the four (4) constituent members of the DCB and is led by a properly-elected Executive which includes Roger Harper, Neil Barry, Azad Ibrahim, Reon King, Debbie Mc Nicholls and Harry Parmessar. This Association, over the years, has been producing many Test and National players at all levels.
It is instructive to note that the officials of these Boards/Association are persons of unquestionable character and integrity with a proven background of playing and administrating cricket at very high levels.
The three (3) named areas constitute ninety-five percent (95) of the strength of Guyana cricket. With the clear exception of two (2) cricketers from Essequibo (none from West Demerara or East Bank Demerara where Raj Singh / Anand Sanasie control the cricket) every Test and senior National cricketer has been produced by Berbice, East Coast and Georgetown.
Regarding the voter allocation issue within the DCB, the late Justice Aubrey Bishop in 2003 in auditing the clubs in Demerara, prudently removed phantom clubs from the West Demerara and East Bank Demerara areas to facilitate a fair electoral process. The very West Demerara and East Bank Demerara are, ten (10) years, later attempting this very charade of phantom clubs to secure a stranglehold on Demerara cricket and this has once again attracted the attention of the court.
It is against this background that these three (3) progressive cricket areas support the Parliamentary process which seeks to permanently resolve the voter allocation problem through the introduction of a Cricket Ombudsman and a club verification process.
Sankar refers to this noble intent as interference. However no right thinking cricket stakeholder would oppose a process that seeks to establish fair-play and transparency in our cricket.
Sankar, in his frantic ramblings attacked the Limacol CPL, which is owned by a Guyanese, without understanding the positive effects the LCPL can have on our cricket development and on spectatorship. Further, in referring to the successful Pakistan tour he failed to mention that not one Guyanese was selected on the West Indies team for the five ODI’s played.
The lack of ability of the GCB to identify, develop and select talented cricketers is evident in the extremely poor performance and results of our National teams at all levels since the hijacking of the DCB and the GCB. They seem only interested in their private ownership of the assets of the GCB and the DCB.
To legalise Guyana cricket with the GCB and the DCB as they are presently constituted is effectively legalising criminality.
Intikhab Sankar is clearly out of his depth on real cricket issues and the ramblings contained in his letter are a clear indication that he does not understand or will not accept the principle that any entity that is a product of an illegality or lawlessness is doomed to fail.
When that entity is as important to the nation as the Guyana Cricket Board (or the Demerara Cricket Board) it must be legally and properly constituted in order to carry out its mandate, to function effectively and to enjoy the confidence and support of all cricket stakeholders.
Winston G. Boston

 

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