Sarwan slams Guyana Cricket Board

Ramnaresh Sarwan, the West Indies batsman, has hit out at the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) for leaving him out of its team for next month's Caribbean Twenty20 Championship.

Guyana announced their 14-man squad on December 6 and the board said in a statement that Sarwan had not been selected because they were not certain he would be fit to play. Sarwan, however, said he had personally kept the board updated on his recovery

"First of all, I would like to make it crystal clear that I have recovered from my injury and I am working on my match fitness," Sarwan told the Caribbean Media Corporation. "In regards to the board being unsure about my recent injury, I say that is total c**p.

"I had spoken to the president of the board [Ramsey Ali] and informed him about the status of my injury, I had also spoken to the chairman of selectors, Mr. Reyon Griffith, and so from that point of view they were well informed."

The injury had forced Sarwan to miss West Indies' tour of Bangladesh and India, and he has not played competitive cricket for almost five months. In addition to Sarwan's injury issues, the GCB said that he had not played in the domestic T20 tournament that was used to pick the Caribbean T20 squad.

Sarwan, who is currently in Canada, accused the GCB of being inconsistent with their selection policy, since he had not played the domestic tournament leading up to the Super50 one-day series back in October either.

"When I was named in the 14 to represent Guyana in the 50-over tournament, I also did not play in the inter-county competition which was used to pick that team," Sarwan said. "Everyone knew how hard I worked with the trainers and everybody in Guyana and how much I wanted to play in the 50-over competition. I am wondering why we couldn't go through the same process?

"I got the experts who treated me to send an e-mail to me which I forwarded to the GCB on the status of my injury. I think it's important for them (GCB) to release that letter to the public so they can see the latest update on my injury."