GEORGETOWN Guyana, December 6th, 2012 -- Subsequent to the clarification of legal issues the Executive Committee of the Guyana Cricket Board has formally approved the squad selected by the Senior Selectors of the GCB namely, Reyon Griffith, Nazimul Drepaul & Adrian Amsterdam, at its Executive Committee meeting held on Monday December 3rd 2012 at the Board’s Offices, Regent Road, Bourda.
We are especially relieved and pleased to advise that this squad has already been communicated to the WICB a few days before the extended deadline and they have readily accepted same, thus guaranteeing Guyana’s participation in this prestigious tournament. This squad will be encamped from Wednesday, December 5th 2012 at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence at LBI, ECD until December 22nd when they will break for the Christmas holidays. They will be re-encamped on December 27th for another week before winging out in early January to Trinidad & St Lucia to compete in this major tournament.
The winner of this Regional tournament represents the Caribbean at the ICC Champions League. Guyana last won this tournament in 2010 and represented the region in South Africa where their performance was well below par, but we are confident that this team could significantly better that achievement and make the cricket starved Guyanese public proud.
Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, the Board had missed the initial deadline set by the WICB of November 22nd 2012 for the submission of this squad. In addition, the tremendous amount of challenges and pressures being exerted on the Executives and staff of the Board severely affected the efficient execution of their duties. It should be noted that the GCB has never faltered in the preparation of a national team to contest in any of the WICB Regional tournaments despite all of the chaos that has been created in the cricketing circles.
The GCB is very appreciative of the support and confidence that it continues to receive from its parent body, the WICB, and the Guyanese public, and has recommitted themselves towards ensuring that cricket is not affected by the impasse created by the GOG/IMC’s actions and welcomes the GOG’s concurrence with this approach. In this regard, the GCB has prepared a rigorous program that includes matches, fitness tests, training, simulation matches, etc for the remaining period until the tournament commences in early January.
The GCB had initially planned to hold 6 trial matches between the County teams & a Select XI from last Thursday to Saturday but this plan was severely curtailed due to the inclement weather and the unavailability of the National Stadium for that period even though these matches were later rescheduled to commence from Saturday until Monday.
We are still awaiting confirmation that the National Stadium would be available for use by the team in its preparation during both periods of encampment with the first set of Practice matches scheduled to be played from Thursday December 6th through to Saturday December 8th. Further fitness tests will be performed after these matches.
The Board is very pleased with the composition of this team which includes a tremendous blend of experience and youth which greatly improves our chances of coming out on top. With the likes of Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Johnson & Deonarine forming the core of the top & middle order and the bowling being led by the spin duo of skipper Veerasammy Permaul & Devendra Bishoo, this Guyana team is expected to give a very good account of themselves. Exciting young fast bowler, Ronsford Beaton will add youth and energy to the attack which will also include hard-hitting batsmen Christopher Barnwell, Jonathan Foo, Steven Jacobs, Royston Crandon, Rajiv Ivan, wicketkeeper Derwin Christian and Trevon Griffith.
The GCB also notes with serious concern that the recently-released WICB fixtures for the Regional Four Day Tournament does not include Guyana as a host venue while the Pakistan Tour Final test match slated for the Guyana National Stadium is still tentative. The GCB will continue to engage the WICB and the Guyana Government to ensure regional and international cricket is played in Guyana.
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