Bissoondyal directs the Chairman of Selectors to pick "his" Guyana Team

Sources in Guyana confirmed that embattled cricket administrator Bissoondyal Singh boasted yesterday at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) pavilion that he was going to "ensure a Guyana [Cricket] Team of his choice would be selected". His comments were made to all and sundry at the GCC pavilion bar where he was lamenting the lack of talent of GCC and Guyana player Vishal Singh. Bissoondyal said "Vishal doesn't deserve a place in the Guyana team" he continued "you see how he 'throw away' against the short ball today? He can't bat!". Bissoondyal was making reference to Vishal Singh's hurried evasive action taken to fend off a short pitched ball from Esau Crandon in the Guyana Cricket Team trials at the GGC  cricket ground Bourda. One onlooker who was there confirmed that Vishal Singh's evasive fending off resulted in him popping the ball up to be out caught and bowled. A club member in attendance confirmed that Bissoondyal was saying that now that he had control of the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) with Roger Harper's recent re-election as President of the GCA he was going to make sure that GCC and Demerara Cricket Club players were not on the Guyana Team. One observer noted that both of those clubs voted to support Roger Harper's adversary at the recent GCA elections.

A person who was present at the GCC pavilion confirmed that Bissoondyal was boasting that he was going to "have to tell [Claude} Raphael [Chairman of Selectors] what to do". Bissoondyal made it clear that Rafael was going to have to listen to his his opinion if he wasted to remain Chairman of Selectors of the Guyana Cricket Team. Bissoondyal said further that at the moment Raphael was on a "long leash" but that would soon change. "Picking teams is about picking who you want .... nothing else" Bissoondyal stated and he said it was time that those who supported his election campaign get some benefits. 

When contacted this morning Bissoondyal said he was "simply stating his opinion on a cricketer"; he was not judging the club from which the player came. When asked further if he was going to dictate team selection he said he had "no comment" at this time but if questions were submitted to him in writing he would respond. Bissoondyal did however mention that as the leader of one faction of the Demerara Cricket Board he though he was entitled to say who he thought should play for Guyana. He said Raphael was unfortunately "influenced by race" on occasion and "nobody complained about that; so he didn't see why if he wanted to select players from clubs that support him that should be a problem". He said he had no difficulty on being quoted on his statements "once you report exactly" what was said.

On a separate issue, unconfirmed reports from Guyana indicate that former Test Cricketer and coach Roger Harper has been sued in the Guyana Courts for libelous statements made against several persons involved in cricket. More to follow on that story as details unfold.

Roger Harper can only win GCA elections with deciet and trickery

On the eve of the Georgetown Cricket Association elections former national cricketer Neil Barry has said that incumbent President "[Roger] Harper should see the writing on the wall and he could only defeat [Alfred] Mentore by deceit and trickery".

The long awaited Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) Annual General Meeting is set to finally take place this afternoon amidst fears of underhanded and illegal dealings on the part of Roger Harper. The Annual General Meeting at which the election of office bearers for the upcoming year takes place was originally set for the 26th January 2011; but when it was clear that the incumbent President Roger Harper was not going to be re-elected he contrived a frivolous and self-created reason to have the elections postponed. One former Test captain said he was "disappointed that Roger would be party to such dishonesty and deceit for the sake of a cricket office". However the apparent dishonesty and deception of Roger Harper is now in high gear with former administrators of now defunct cricket clubs; being the GUYSTACK Trade II and the Guyana National Service both saying that they have been approached by Harper to "pretend to be in existence for the sole purpose of voting at the AGM today". 

The accusations of dishonesty and deceit against Harper, a former Test cricketer and coach, is not new. Allegations abound during his tenure of office of financial impropriety; indeed most of it involved GCA Board members and not Harper. However, one former National Cricketer who is on Harper's current GCA Board said "it doesn't matter whether Harper is the one accused of financial swindling, what is important is that as the President of GCA he must be aware of it and is doing nothing to stop it". These allegations are being made against Harper at a time when television stations in Guyana broadcast the Executive Committee Meeting of the Demerara Cricket Board, of which Harper is a member, which displayed Harper's unruly, uncouth and obstinate behaviour. Since the broadcasts have begun Harper and his associate, the embattled Bisoondyal Singh, have been the laughing stock of the cricket fraternity.

However, a former Guyana and West Indies cricket captain who is familiar with Harper said he hoped that Harper would not stoop to such levels to keep a cricket administrator job; he added that he was disappointed that "Roger would be involved in such underhand practices as trying to inflate the list of clubs eligible to vote by improperly including defunct and phantom clubs to get votes against legitimate club who are entitled to have a full say in cricket administration in Georgetown". 

When contacted yesterday Bissoondyal Singh in a invited comment said that he was sure Harper would win since "it was simple mathematics having regard to the number of clubs voting". Bissoondyal went on to say there were no defunct clubs registered but admitted that some of the clubs now registered for the elections today had not played cricket for years and in fact did not have active cricket teams or administrators; "but they could come and vote now that we have re-registered them" so there should be no objection to them.

Bissoondyal: "I have money so I control dem black people on my Board"

Mr. Bissoondyal Singh, leader of the Bissoondyal led faction of the Demerara Cricket Board, speaking in the company of friends and his lawyer at a Sleep In hotel in Georgetown on Friday night boasted that no member of his faction of the Demerara Cricket Board was free to vote at the upcoming Guyana Cricket Board elections in an independent manner. "I tell them who to vote for" he said. He further went on to say that he had made promises to the politicians to deliver the Board to them to be used as a tool in the upcoming election campaign and as such he had to take instruction from the politicians and his Board members in turn had to follow his instructions. Bissoondyal boasted that the vice-president of his faction of the Demerara Cricket Board, former West Indies Test Player Roger Harper had no say in the decisions of the Board. Bissoondyal boasted to his friends that "black people greedy, is only lil money they want and they have to depend on indians for the money, we own them". He said Roger Harper was not working at the moment and was being supported by hand outs from him of which he said he had plenty. He further went on to comment that "pacer" Adonis who has been involved in Demerara Cricket for more than a decade was now squarely on his side because of the "couple thousand dollars" I give him every week. Adonis would do "anything I ask him to do" because of the "lil freck" I give him every week. That is how you control black people he declared.

Bissoondyal admitted that he was dependent on the support of Harper, Adonis and Chairman of National Selectors Claude Rafael to be elected but he said he was sure of the support because "Rafael goes to Berbice for me ... look he going on Sunday again (last Sunday) and he gotta go because he bruk and is me who he gotta beg for a small piece". In a comment about the appointment of Mark Harper as the National Cricket Team Coach, Bissoondyal defended his fight against Mark Harper at the Board level when a vote was being taken on the appointment saying "Mark ain't nobody; I gotta put somebody there who I could control and Mark don't even listen to Roger most of the time".

Bissoondyal boasted that he had the votes to win the Presidency of the Guyana Cricket Board because he had bought out four votes from the Berbice Cricket Board. "Bai, I telling you, I gat money so I will always control dem black people ... all you need to do is give them a two thousand now and then and they will follow you like a dog everywhere".

Bissoondyal was confident that his faction would be the faction that would go to the Guyana Cricket Board Elections because of the political clique he had behind him. "I don't care about any constitution or any Court or what anybody else say ... I taking over the Board and all I need is for the Ministers I have behind me to do what I say and I got it covered". He openly admitted that the interference of political elements was an integral part of him succeeding and he feared if the  High Court got involved to examine things that would interfere with is march to the Presidency of the Guyana Cricket Board.