The End for Neil McGarrell?
The performance of the Guyana team in the current Carib Beer and KFC Cup regional competitions has left many questions unanswered, not the least in relation to the selection of the team.While both of Guyana’s four-day Carib Beer games against the Windward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago were severely affected by rain, they have now lost their first two one-day KFC Cup matches to these same teams very tamely.
And even in the rain-affected Carib Beer games, Guyana were unable to bowl out the opposition on both occasions. Further, the manner in which runs were scored against the Guyana bowling leaves little doubt as to where they are likely to place in both competitions.
Against Trinidad and Tobago, Kieron Pollard hammered 87 in 58 balls in the one-day match and, before that, also smashed the Guyanese bowlers for 69 in 31 balls in the four-day game.
In the Carib Beer game against the Windward Islands, Rawle Lewis scored a hundred and Liam Sebastien 90 to take their team to 392 for 8 declared after Guyana had pegged them back to 170 for 6 at one stage.
As regards the composition of the Guyana team, the exclusion of left-arm spinner Neil McGarrell drew criticism from many quarters, both in Guyana and in the region, and one cannot help but wonder if the team is suffering from the lack of a proper balance between experience and youth.
Indeed, regional teams generally try to give younger players as much exposure as possible, and in this sense the decision by the Guyana selectors probably cannot be faulted too much for leaving him out.
Some countries, however, see the wisdom of keeping older players and blending them with youth. The Windward Islands’ Junior Murray and Rawle Lewis and Trinidadian Mervyn Dillon are but a few examples.
With the unavailability of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan for Guyana, even though these are two frontline batsmen in comparison to McGarrell’s spin, it would have clearly been useful to include the orthodox left-armer to add some experience to the side.
McGarrell, a former captain of the Guyana team, is a more than useful lower order batsman anyway. He has even opened the batting, and in the process scored a 50 for Guyana, when Nicholas DeGroot was injured against a Leeward Islands team that had included Curtly Ambrose.
Further, and what is even more glaring, is the fact that Reon King and Mahendra Nagamootoo have been kept in the side, both of whom have performed poorly in the four-day and limited overs tournaments so far.
What then could have been the reason for leaving McGarrell out?
King and Nagamootoo are both 31 years old, while McGarrell is 34. But there is not much difference in the context of any of them ever gaining a West Indies recall in the future.
On that note, if King and Nagamootoo are in the side, then McGarrell by all means should be there too. Few, if any at all, would doubt that McGarrell still has some cricket left in him.
Some may argue that the case of Lewis defies that logic, and there has even been talk of 32-year old Dillon aiming to gain a test recall following his decision to play in the 2007 regional tournaments.
King, Nagamootoo and McGarrell have played test cricket for the West Indies, but McGarrell has the most impressive record, even though he was given the least number of test matches of the three.
In 2005, McGarrell was also dropped from the Guyana squad for several matches following an apparent injury. But it was later discovered, through an interview with McGarrell that appeared in Guyana's Stabroek News, that the selectors at the time had misled fans into thinking that the player was still injured.
At a time when Guyana's bowling seems to lack penetration, the inclusion of McGarrell could have made a big difference. He has been a proven performer for Guyana with both bat and ball.
In Guyana, his exclusion has fuelled speculations of some degree of racism in the selection of the national team, of course not for the first time. And this is a perception the cricketing authorities in Guyana are well aware of.
Whether or not McGarrell would have actually made a difference in the performance of the Guyana team this year might never be known. Nevertheless, his experience and record are both in his favour.
This is certainly not the way the Guyanese selectors should treat a player who has given his best for his country, and indeed the West Indies in the few opportunities he was given.
But only they know the reasons why he was dropped. And if it is anything but cricket, they also know there is still time to correct it.