Former Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Senior Select Committee Chairman Ramnaresh Sarwan has expressed his displeasure over the non-selection of left-arm spinner Antony Adams in the 13-man Guyana Harpy Eagles squad for the four-day championship.
“Injustice to a young man who has worked tremendously hard on his game and fitness. Who without any doubt deserve[s] to be in [the] Guyana team.” he said
Sarwan said this Thursday in response to the current selection panel’s justification for not selecting Adams.
Sarwan was in charge of the selectors when the GCB executive took over in March 2021, but had to step down in January 2022 when he was promoted to the West Indies selectors. After that, Ravindranauth Seeram, a former national coach and player, was appointed as the chairman of the GCB board.
Seeram, currently assisted by Albert Clements (Berbice), Peter Persaud (Demerara), and Elroy Stephany (Essequibo) on the panel, hosted a press briefing on Thursday along with Clements and Territorial Development Officer, Colin Stuart, to explain the panel’s selection rationale.
Seeram told the media that Adams is not in good condition as a spinner.
“Adams was not in the best role as a spinner.”
However, Middle-order batsman Akshaya Persaud and left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd, who performed averagely in both practice matches, were included in the four-day championship.
In the two practice matches, Adams had figures of 1-15 (nine overs),1-10 (five overs), 0-25 (seven overs), and 4-25 (seven overs), while Nedd got 1-72 ( 12 overs), 1-16 (10 overs) and 1-48 (19 overs).
But since he was with Permaul and Moti in the squad last season, even though he was a touring squad, the expectation was that Moti’s recall to the Test squad for the tour of Zimbabwe would pave the way for Adams to join the 13.
After learning of his selection to the squad via Facebook, skipper Leon Johnson said on Tuesday,
“Now that Motie is unavailable due to West Indies selection, you thought a player like Antony, who is not experienced at the First-Class level, but he is very experienced generally, would have gotten the nod.”
The Harpy Eagles will leave for Antigua on January 29 and they will play Barbados Pride at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua from February 1-4, and the Windward Islands Volcanoes at the National Stadium in Grenada from February 8-11.
The championship then takes a break and resumes on March 15 in Trinidad and Tobago for the remaining three rounds.
The Guyana Harpy Eagles squad: Leon Johnson (Captain), Veerasammy Permaul (Vice-captain), Chandrapaul Hemraj, Matthew Nandu, Kemol Savory, Tevin Imlach, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Nial Smith, Ronsford Beaton, Akshaya Persaud, Ashmead Nedd and Shamar Joseph.
The Manager is Albert Clements, Head Coach Ryan Hercules, Assistant Coach Garvin Nedd, Cricket Analyst Keshava Ramphal and Physiotherapist Angelica Holder.