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Kaieteur News
Tuesday October 07, 2014
WICB PCL Franchise cricket off & running Sarwan ignored by Guyana By Sean Devers Tr u e t o p r e d i c t i o n Guyana’s first pick in the inaugural Player Draft which was held from 11:00hrs yesterday at Accra Beach Hotel in Barbados was a non-Guyanese in Raymond Reifer and not former Guyana and West Indies Skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan who snapped up by Trinidad & Tobago’s Red Force for the upcoming regional season which commences on November 14 with three four-day First-Class matches. Since regional First-Class cricket was first played in 1865, this is the first time that a Franchises system is being introduced although the region had a sample of Franchise cricket during the privately run Limacol Caribbean Premier League which was won by the Barbados Franchise. Guyana face the Leeward Islands from November 14-17 at Providence in their opening game before facing the Windward Islands Volcanoes (Nov 21-24) and Barbados (Nov 28-Dec 1) at the same venue. They then oppose Trinidad & Tobago’s Red Force at the Queens Park Oval in Trinidad in their last game for the year from December 5-8. But by virtue of the choice of players yesterday, it seems the West Indies is not quite ready for non-nationals players being incorporated into their regional teams since only Guyana and T&T opted to contract an ‘overseas’ player in the 15-man squad. The Player Draft was organised with the goal of achieving an equitable distribution of the available player talent in the Regional 4-Day and NAGICO Super50 tournaments with each of the six franchises contracting a minimum of 15 players. Ten of those players were pre-selected from the Home Territory and the other five selected from the Player Draft. While Reifer was the first player to be picked by Guyana, Sarwan was selected in the second round of the Player Draft, while all the other four Territorial teams went for all ‘home grown’ which defeated the whole concept of Franchise Cricket. “We have struggled with the all-rounder role and we were glad to get a second player in the all-rounder
position,” said Guyana Chairman of Selectors, former Guyana pacer Rayon Griffith after he picked Reifer, the Barbadian allrounder to play for the Guyana franchise. The Guyana Franchises was represented Griffith and Guyana Head Coach Esuan Crandon another EXGuyanese First-Class pacer. The 33-year-old Sarwan has 15 centuries from 87 Tests and has played 181 ODIs and 18 Twenty20 Internationals and according to former West Indies Test batsman and the Red Force’s Head Coach Gus Logie, Sarwan’s selection on the Twin-Island Republic’s line-up could also be seen as a developmental move. “We felt having a player of the calibre of Sarwan in our side would be invaluable to our squad which includes a number of young players,” the diminutive right-handed Logie said. Apart from Reifer, Guyana added Rajindra Chandrika, Keon Joseph, Paul Wintz and Vishaul Singh to their Initial 10 pre-selected players. The established Test or ODI players, including Shiv Chanderpaul, who have WICB Central Contracts, could also play for their respective regional teams under the Pay-for-Play system with up to 30 players allowed to play for a single team during the course of both the First-Class and NAGIO Super50 limited overs versions of this inaugural WICB Franchise cricket. No team utilized the option of contracting an ‘overseas International’ as was done in the LCPL while Raymon Reifer, Rajindra Chandrika, Keon Joseph, Paul Wintz, Vishal Singh were added to the initial 10 of Christopher Barnwell, Ronsford Beaton, Devendra Bishoo, Anthony Bramble, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Assad Fudadin, Trevon Griffith, Leon Johnson, Veerasammy Permaul to form the Guyana Franchise Squad. Anthony Adams, Ricardo Adams, Robin Bacchus, Kevon Boodie, Rajendra Chandrika, Royston Crandon, Chanderpaul Hemraj, Steven Jacobs, Raun Johnson, Keon Joseph, Amir Khan, Zaheer Mohamed, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Vishaul Singh, Paul Wintz and Gudakesh Motie were the
Rayon Griffith (2nd left) and Guyana Head Coach Esuan Crandon (left) represented Guyana at the event. (WICB) Guyanese in the player Draft. The Windward’s (Volcanoes) and Trinidad & Tobago (Red Force) are the only teams with names other names attached to the Territorial names. The six franchises participated in the Player Draft through a selection panel consisting of the Chairman of Selectors and Head Coach: The Player Draft was televised across the region on the One Caribbean Channel and globally through the WICB’s website, www.windiescricket.com, and was conducted over five rounds. The selection order for the Player Draft was linked to the final league position in t h e 2 0 1 3 - 1 4 W I C B ’s President’s Cup of the Territorial Board’s team affiliated with the franchise. The sequence below was followed and repeated for each round: Guyana Franchise, Leeward Islands Franchise, Jamaica Franchise, Windward Islands Volcanoes, Trinidad & To b a g o R e d F o r c e , Barbados Franchise The squads read: (Barbados) Carlos Brathwaite, Jonathan Carter, Kyle Corbin, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Ashley Nurse, Dwayne Smith, Kevin Stoute, Omar Phillips, Jomel Warrican; Tino Best, Shai Hope, Kenroy Williams, Ryan Hinds, Roston Chase (Jamaica): Carlton Baugh Jr, Dave Bernard Jr, Jermaine Blackw o o d , N k r u m a h Bonner, John Campbell, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Dawes, Damion Jacobs, Tamar Lambert, Nikita Miller; Andre McCarthy, Shacoya Thomas, Horace Miller, Brandon King, Brian
Buchanan (Leewards Islands): Quinton Boatswain, Jahmar Hamilton, Montcin Hodge, Yannick Leonard, Steve Liburd, Jeremiah Louis, Kieran Powell, Devon Thomas, Hayden Walsh, Kelbert Walters; Anthony M a r t i n , G a v i n To n g e , Rahkeem Cornwall, Jacques Taylor, Lyndel Richardson (T&T Red Force): Adrian Barath, Rayad Emrit, Shannon Gabriel, Steven Katwaroo, Imran Khan, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Nicholas Pooran, Marlon Richards, Lendl Simmons; Akeal Hosein , Ramnaresh Sarwan, Yannick Ottley, Jeremy Solozano, Bryan Charles ( Wi n d w a r d I s l a n d s Volcanoes): Sunil Ambris, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Delorn Johnson, Keddy Lesporis, Kenroy Peters, Liam Sebastien, Shane Shillingford, Devon Smith, Tyrone Theophile; Mervin Mathew, Nelon Pascal, Lindon James, Dalton Polius, Romel Currency. Regional four-day schedule Round 1 – November 1417 Jamaica Franchise vs Volcanoes – Sabina Park Red Force vs Barbados Franchise – Queen’s Park Oval Guyana Franchise vs Leewards Franchise – Guyana National Stadium Round 2 – November 21 to 24 Guyana Franchise vs Volcanoes – Providence Stadium Leewards Franchise vs Red Force – Leewards venue TBC Barbados Franchise vs Jamaica Franchise –
Kensington Oval Round 3 – November 28 to December 1 Volcanoes vs Leewards Franchise – Grenada National Stadium Guyana Franchise vs Barbados Franchise – Guyana National Stadium Red Force vs Jamaica Franchise – Queen’s Park Oval Round 4 – December 5 to 8 Volcanoes vs Barbados Franchise – Arnos Vale Jamaica Franchise vs Leewards Franchise – Sabina Park Red Steel vs Guyana Franchise – Queen’s Park Oval Break for Christmas Round 5 – February 6 to 9 Jamaica Franchise vs Guyana Franchise – Sabina Park Volcanoes vs Red Force –
Beausejour Cricket Ground Barbados Franchise vs Leewards Franchise – Kensington Oval Round 6 – February 13 to 16 Volcanoes vs Jamaica Franchise – Arnos Vale Barbados Franchise vs Red Force – Kensington Oval Leewards Franchise vs Guyana Franchise – Leewards venue TBC Round 7 – February 20 to 23 Leewards Franchise vs Volcanoes – Leewards venue TBC Barbados Franchise vs Guyana Franchise – Kensington Oval Jamaica Franchise vs Red Force – Sabina Park BREAK Round 8 – March 6 to 9 Red Force vs Volcanoes – Queen’s Park Oval Guyana Franchise vs Jamaica Franchise – Guyana National Stadium Leewards Franchise vs Barbados Franchise – Leewards venue TBC Round 9 – March 13 to 16 Barbados Franchise vs Volcanoes – Kensington Oval Leewards Franchise vs Jamaica Franchise – Leewards venue TBC Guyana Franchise vs Red Force – Guyana National Stadium Round 10 – March 20 to 23 Volcanoes vs Guyana Franchise – Windsor Park Stadium Red Force vs Leewards Franchise – Queen’s Park Oval Jamaica Franchise vs Barbados Franchise – Sabina Park
Ramnaresh Sarwan