Sarwan among four Test players not in their Country’s initial 10

Oct 01, 2014 Sports

By Sean Devers
Ramnaresh Sarwan, the 34-year-old flamboyant Guyanese Test batsman is among four players with Test Cricket

Ramnaresh Sarwan

experience not named in their country’s initial list of 10 players for the next Regional First-Class season which is scheduled to start on October 14.
The upcoming season will usher in the franchise system for First-Class cricket in the Caribbean and will also see one winner being crowned after the round-robin phase. Sarwan has 15 centuries from 87 Tests but has not played Test cricket since July 2011, the stylish right-hander is however, in the additional pool of 15 provided by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) who controls the Guyana ‘Franchise’ and can still be bought by Guyana.
Bajans Fidel Edwards, Tino Best and Ryan Hinds and Grenadian pacer Nelon Pascal are the others with Test experience who have been overlooked by their respective teams for the initial list of 10 who are assured of being in their home country’s 15-member squad and will be contracted.
Sarwan like Edwards, Best, Hinds and Pascal could be bought by any team since they are among the 90 players in the pool. According to reliable sources, Trinidad and Tobago has not put any of their big name players in the pool to be bought by the other teams since apart from the 10, any team can buy five home born players or five from anywhere in the Caribbean once they are among the 90 in the pool.
Guyana’s initial 10 are Leon Johnson, Chris Barnwell, Trevon Griffith, Narsingh Deonarine, Assad Fudadin, Anthony Bramble, Veerasammy Permaul, Devendra Bishoo, Ronsford Beaton and Taignarine Chanderpaul. Shiv Chanderpaul has got a WICB central Contract and is an automatic pick among the remaining five for Guyana.
The 15 Guyanese in the pool are Chanderpaul Hemraj, Steven Jacobs, Antony Adams, Kevin Boodie, Robin Bacchus,

Shiv Chanderpaul

Rajendra Chandrika, Keon Joseph, Amir Khan, Ranga Latchana, Zaheer Mohamed, Kemo Paul, Shemron Hetmyer, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Vishaul Singh and Paul Wintz.
There is no place in the pool for former West Indies ODI player Royston Crandon who has been in great form in the four-day Inter-county tournament but according the sources those players who are under the age of 18 would not be considered which means Hetmyer and Paul will be removed from the pool and be replaced by two others which will give players like Crandon, hopes of getting into the pool.
Many of the Region’s top players who are in the pool could be bought and earn a monthly income of not less than US$1,200 excluding their match fees, enabling them to earn a decent living from cricket. These contracts are being funded by WICB and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) for an initial period of two years.
Guyana will play their first three games at the Providence Stadium (vs Leewards Nov 14-17), (vs Winwards Nov 21-24) and (vs Barbados Nov 28-Dec 1) before playing their final game for the year against T&T in Trinidad from Dec 5-8.
The tournament will then break for Christmas resuming on Feb-5-9 after the Nagico Super 50 is played. The final round of the 10-run four-day competition is set for March 23-27. The West Indies Cricket Board will release the names of the full 90 players on October 3 next.