Unprepared and Unprofessional

A near tragedy during the finals of the TCL Group Under-19 competition at Bourda in Guyana has highlighted just how unprepared and unprofessional some of the regional boards are when it comes to protecting the most important assets -- the players.

The incident in question, which was quite frightening, occurred on the first day when Windward Islands off-spinner Asa Edwards was trying to prevent a boundary in front of the Rohan Kanhai stand. In his effort to flick the ball back to a teammate for the throw, he lost his balance and crashed head first into the iron rails.

After the impact which caused a seven-minute stoppage of play, Edwards was out cold for about two hours and did not regain his speech for a further three hours.

As frightening as this was, what was even more mind boggling was the fact that the only doctor who was in the vicinity to render assistance was Dr. Maraj, who happened to be the father of the Trinidadian opener, Tishan Maraj.

What was even worse was that there was no back board or neck brace to immobilize the spine and the neck of young Edwards, and indeed the injured player was rushed to a private hospital for x-rays after being stretchered off, not in an ambulance, but in the car of a Good Samaritan.

That this should happen at a tournament sanctioned by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is shameful to say the least. The absence of necessary equipment necessary to protect players from worsening a spinal injury was sacrilegious. What if Edwards had sustained a spinal injury that could have worsened by moving him? Would be reading about a quadriplegic today, or give the parlous state of Guyana?s medical industry, a dead player?

One should also note that this ground is used as a Test venue, and Test players regularly slide and dive in an effort to stop boundaries. Can you imagine if an international player were to suffer this fate?

The WICB has a serious responsibility to ensure that matches run under their auspices should have competent medical personnel assigned to the games, and that all necessary medical equipment including an ambulance are available in case a player is injured.

This is 2003 the WICB must be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, especially where the health and well being of the players under its? direct control are concerned.

What happened with Asa Edwards was beyond ridiculous. It was inexplicable. It must never, ever happen again.