Former Guyana and West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan stepped down from the Cricket West Indies senior and junior selectors in January 2022, and in May 2022, Sarwan also resigned from the CWI posts, citing personal reasons.
After that, the GCB appointed former Guyana first-class batsman Ravindranauth Seeram as the new chairman of the selection committee in March 2022.
However, the former veteran batsman has been reinstated as the chairman of the selection committee of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), the local governing body for the game, which was announced on Saturday.
The Seeram-led panel of Albert Clement (Berbice), Peter Persaud (Demerara) and Elroy Stephney (Essequibo) was widely criticized for the line-up named for the first two rounds of the Guyana Harpy Eagles squad for the four-day championship.
According to a statement by the Guyana Cricket Board, Ramnaresh Sarwan has been reinstated to replace Senior Selection Committee Chairman Ravindranauth Seeram and Seeram has been reassigned to the GCB’s Cricket Development Unit.
The decision was taken at the executive meeting of the GCB held on Saturday, February 18, 2023. Sarwan, who was previously the chairman of the GCB’s senior selection committee, relinquished his role due to his promotion to the West Indies Cricket Senior Selection Committee.
It is GCB’s expectation that Sarwan will continue to build on the positive steps taken during his previous tenure as the Senior Selection Committee Chairman.
And he joined in an interview with Newsroom, where he asked if there was anything different this time around in terms of your approach. Sarwan said that youths are mixed with seniors.
“No, not really. Like I’ve said, it’s very important that we also recognize that we need senior players in the team but also there will be a transition where we’ll be mixing the younger guys who are coming through with some of the senior guys. But of course, I’ve said before that fitness also plays a part, not solely a priority.”
“so I think it’s important for us to get a place to understand what it needs to do in terms of maintaining and sustaining their fitness. The good news about that though looking back at some of the data given to me a few days ago, we have noticed there have been improvements which is a very good sign. Right.”
Remember the last time you did mention a specific number in terms of the Beep test that you’re looking for these yoyo test? Is that standard still in place or you’re going to alter that as you go forward? Answering the question Sarwan said.
“No, like I said to the players when I met with them quite a few months ago. I can understand the difficulties of them getting up to fart and above but we will give them a fair opportunity to ensure they get to fart and above. Now there are only so much trainers which I’m pleased to say that we’ve got a full-time trainer and a physio now which would allow the players to utilize them and ensure that they get up to a standard.”
“So there’s no excuse in terms of working with players and getting them up to scratch with their fitness. but it’s also important for them to understand they need to play their part. We’re not actually going to babysit anyone. if they’ve got sessions that they need to come to. They have to turn up on time. Punctuality also would be very important.”
“couple of days that we have had guys who had to turn up for treatment. There have been quite a bit of excuses. but we will address in a few days to come where we get together with the plays and the selectors and the training staff.”
The former West Indies player has a wealth of experience and has scored 5804 runs in ODIs with 5 centuries and 38 fifties at an average of 42.67. Apart from that, he has scored 5842 runs in 87 Test matches with 15 centuries and 31 fifties.