Who’s To Blame?

IT NEVER happened before, if it did I don’t remember, but when the West Indies take the field during the First Test at Bourda it would be the first time in living memory that no Guyanese will be among the final eleven at that famous ground.

For those who will want to read some insular motive into this piece forgive me, my intentions are anything but insular.

No Guyanese in a West Indies team playing at Bourda!!! Surely, that is “Eyepass with the capital ‘E’,”

Let me get to the point. I think that we are to be blamed for the absence of Guyanese cricketers, umpires and whatever else from the First Test.

I have heard old “country people” say, and I honestly believe that “you mek you own eyepass.” It is only you who determines the degree of respect or conversely, disrespect that is bestowed on you.

Let’s chronicle some of the early signs which led to this final position.

Basil Butcher in 1983, no Guyanese has been a West Indies selector on either the senior or the hastily put together junior panels.

Eyebrows should certainly have been raised when a selection panel was nominated in 1985 to select a youth team for Australia after the Northern Telecom Youth tournament played here. Every other team manager was on that panel but Guyana’s.

Then no Guyanese was selected for the Youth tour of Australia last year but we are advised that Barrington Browne was omitted because of some silly excusable misdemeanour.

Again there was no Guyanese on the panel.

So what? Let’s not be simplistic, when you are locked in conversation with some of these gentlemen you get the drift.

But then whose fault is it that we have no one on the panels. Is it that we do not have persons who are necessarily qualified to be on the panels? Is it one of the questions that the Guyana Cricket Board of Control (GCBC) must carefully research and come up with viable answers.

Which brings me to the point of umpires. The flow to the umpiring fraternity has been slow to the point of being almost non-existent.

In these austere times no young responsible man will spend a total of approximately 24 hours at cricket for the meagre hand-me-down which is received by our umpires for standing in