Letter to the Sports Editor…Jaguars’ success due to outstanding programmes in Berbice, Georgetown and East Coast

Apr 25, 2017 Sports

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Dear Sports Editor,
I take this opportunity to offer sincere congratulation to the Guyana Jaguars Cricket Team and the Coach for their recent success at winning the regional 4- Day Cricket Tournament for the third year in succession. The Players have performed exceptionally well despite all odds and they must be recognized for this unprecedented achievement.
Kudos must also be given to the Berbice Cricket Board, especially the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club led by Hilbert Foster, the Georgetown Cricket Association led by Roger Harper and the East Coast Cricket Board led by Bissoondyal Singh and their respective Committee members.
These gentlemen and their Association /Boards fought steadfastly over the last seven (7) years to organize and develop cricket within their respective areas despite continuous interference and destabilization efforts perpetrated by the illegal regime calling itself the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB). Apart from the now regular and infamous impositions of court injunctions within these areas, the self-servicing GCB made regular disruptive incursions into the three areas.
These three (3) Association/Boards have not for over seven (7) years received a blind cent as cricket subsidy from the GCB which in turn receives over $70 million dollars from the WICB for cricket development and administration in Guyana. It is these very three (3) areas that have produced all the cricketers for the various Guyana teams. Yet the GCB wants recognition for the success of the Guyana Jaguars. The GCB does not have a cricket development plan of its own and has brazenly piggy-backed on the tremendous cricket development and the talented players from Berbice, Georgetown and East Coast, while ensuring that those areas do not have any say in the administration of Guyana Cricket.
What is even more disturbing is that the current Government, through its Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Commission continue to reward this illegal regime for the efforts of others.
I do not know if it is due to ignorance, myopia or downright cronyism but the GCB seems to be finding special favours even within their questionable operations.
A little over a year ago it was reported that the Minister of Sport admitted that she was unaware that there was a Cricket Administration Act and that she was not prepared to take the blame for not naming the stands at the Providence Stadium. Since then instead of consolidating efforts to remove the frivolous challenges to the Act, the Minister and the Director of Sports seem to have formed a relationship with the incompetent GCB by:
1. Rewarding them and its controversial secretary with sports awards for 2016 at the ceremony held in January 2017 attended surprisingly by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Minister of Sports made some misleading pronouncements on the contributions of the President and Secretary of the GCB with regard to the development of youth cricketers.
3. Allocating $1.5M dollars in balls for school cricket to the GCB. The tournament was disappointingly scheduled to be played during the rainy season and exam term. It would be extremely useful to analyse the programme/plan that influenced this donation since from all appearances there was no proper ground preparation, no proper coaching programme, no proper cricket gear distribution and no proper zoning or coordination of the schedule of matches. The tournament was akin to our youngsters playing cricket in the jungle!!
There has been no organized ladies cricket since this regime hijacked the GCB in the 2011, and they have been selecting female national players from the softball cricket instead. Yet this group has been able to bluff and hoodwink the present sports administration into giving them awards they never deserved.
Guyana has got the talent to produce world-class cricketers but the current environment of illegality, amateurism, deceit, favoritism and incompetence cannot help our players. We are winning the war but losing the battle. Why? With Guyana winning regional tournaments and the West Indies Team at its lowest in 20 years, we cannot contribute much to the WI teams. Why are the likes of Roger Harper, Mark Harper, Neil Barry, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Monty Lynch, Albert Smith, Rabindranauth Seeram, Reon King, Clyde Butts, Rodrick Lovell and Huburn Evans not working with our youngsters within a structured programme that is carefully worked out and properly implemented?
The time is long overdue to implement the Guyana Cricket Act. If the Minister is unaware of the process she could seek guidance from her Senior Minister of Education, her Director of Sport, her Attorney General, her Minister of State or even the Minster of Public Security all of whom sat at 22 meetings of the Parliamentary Select Committee that crafted and passed the Cricket Bill into law.
The frivolous challenge to the Act that is preventing the holding of free and fair elections of the GCB was instituted by Anand Sanasie et al. It is self-servicing and ensures that the illegal GCB does not hold any elections while they fondly embrace the Government officials. Is this right in our democratic society?
W. G. Boston

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