Shoddy Regional Tournament begins

Thu, Nov 13, '08

by RYAN PATRICK

Information on the unsponsored and weakly promoted West Indies Cricket Board Regional One Day Tournament has been so scarce that even the WICB's own website is struggling to present accurate information on the nine team tournament which starts in Guyana today.

The WICB’s official website intermittently refers to the tournament as the KFC Cup though KFC is no longer the sponsor (see headlines under 'Related News').

On the "official website of West Indies cricket" clicking the ‘Domestic Tournaments’ tab on the home page takes the viewer, not to the current tournament but the Carib Beer Series which was completed since April, seven months ago.

All of this even as the WICB CEO Dr. Donald Peters' urgings ring hollow to the players, fans and the media who have all heard the 'ole talk' before without much meaningful action.

"As we prepare to host the 2008 One-Day Regional Tournament in Guyana, we cannot help but hope that the tournament will be the beginning of a new focus on raising the bar in West Indies Cricket," said Peters even as his own website remains true to form with its old tardy standards.

It comes as no surprise then that the founder and chairman of Digicel, Denis O'Brien, this week, called for Peters to be fired along with President Julian Hunte.

The "new focus on raising the bar" is not however limited to the shoddy website which the board manages in-house, but extends to the fact that no list of umpires and match referees officiating in the various games has been released to the media leaving the media to guessing and assumption.

And it does not even end there, as the schedule appears as though it was formulated by someone who lacks any cricketing or marketing nous. 

Sunday, a traditional day for cricket watching in the region and one on which the largest crowds are seen, has been left without any cricket while the more notable regional teams such as reigning One Day champions Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana are left to play on working days such as Thursday and Monday when the crowds are sure to be sparse.

Following is a full list of the teams (which does not appear anywhere on the WICB website):

Barbados: Jason Haynes (captain), Ryan Hinds, Dwayne Smith, Tino Best, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Patrick Browne, Kevin Stoute, Alcindo Holder, Jonathan Carter, Dale Richards, Dwayne Yearwood, Kenroy Williams, Nikolai Charles

Canada: Sunil Dhaniram (captain), Umar Bhatti, Abdool Samad, Mohammad Iqbal, Sandeep Jyoti, Qaiser Ali, Khurram Chohan, Asif Mulla, Karun Jethi, Zahid Hussain, Harvir Baidwan, Henry Osinde, Eion Katchay, Zubin Surkari

Combined Campuses and Colleges: Simon Jackson (captain), Floyd Reifer, Romel Currency, Craig Emmanuel, Kurt Wilkinson, Chadwick Walton, Jamal Smith, Ramnarine Chattergoon, Anderson Sealy, Kavesh Kantasing, Gilford Moore, Carlitos Lopez, Krishmar Catlin, Kirk Edwards 

Guyana: Travis Dowlin (captain), Mahendra Nagamootoo, Narsingh Deonarine, ChristopherBarnwell, Trevon Garraway, Steven Jacobs, Gajanand Singh, Rajendra Chandrika, Asad Fudadin, Brandon Bess, Royston Crandon, Deon Ferrier, Derwin Christian, Veerasammy Permaul

Jamaica: Tamar Lambert (captain), Jermaine Lawson, Dave Bernard Jr, Horace Miller, Yannick Elliot, Gavin Wallace, Brenton Parchment, Lorenzo Ingram, Danza Hyatt, Donovan Sinclair, Andrew Richardson, Andre Russell, Bevon Brown, Krishmar Santokie, Keith Hibbert

Leeward Islands: Runako Morton (captain) Kieran Powell, Austin Richards Jr, Shane Jeffers, Orlando Peters, Omari Banks, Tonito Willett, Wilden Cornwall, Devon Thomas, Anthony Martin, Justin Athanaze, Gavin Tonge, Chad Hampson, Kelbert Walters

Trinidad & Tobago: Daren Ganga (captain), William Perkins, Sherwin Ganga, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Gibran Mohammed, Richard Kelly, Rishi Bachan, Ravi Rampaul, Amit Jaggernauth, Samuel Badree, Adrian Barath, Kieron Pollard, Reyad Emrit

Windward Islands: Rawl Lewis (captain), Darren Sammy, Deighton Butler, Devon Smith, Miles Bascombe, Alston Bobb, Dennis George, Lindon James, Liam Sebastien, Johnson Charles, Mervyn Matthews, Nelon Pascal, Shane Shillingford, Kevin James