Guyana board president defends Chanderpaul

	Shivnarine Chanderpaul had flown to Trinidad to attend a WIPA function after the first day of Guyana's Carib Beer Cup match against Windward Islands © Imran Khan

The president of the Guyana Cricket Board, Chetram Singh, has said that Shivnarine Chanderpaul was granted permission to attend the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) awards ceremony mid-way through Guyana's Carib Beer Cup match against Windward Islands.

There was confusion on the second day when Gajanand Singh came out to bat with captain Travis Dowlin, although Chanderpaul had been unbeaten on 78 after the first day. Match referee Omar Bacchus, along with the two umpires, Davetirth Anandjit and Terence Birbal, confirmed to CMC that they were not informed by the Guyana team-management about Chanderpaul's absence, and hence ruled him retired out.

Guyana's manager, Carl Moore, and coach Albert Smith were unable to explain Chanderpaul's absence during the second day, with Smith saying that Chanderpaul should have informed him of his plans to play only a part of the match.

Chanderpaul's unexplained absence on the second day and parts of the third day had incensed the Windwards team-management, who refused to allow Guyana a substitute fielder for him. Chanderpaul, though, returned during the second session of the third day and remained at the pavilion when Guyana's turn came to bat again.

But Chetram maintained that Moore was informed about Chanderpaul's plans to attend the awards ceremony. "The manager was informed that Shiv was leaving and I am at a loss as to way he felt it was not necessary to inform the relevant authorities.

"The responsibility of the manager is to inform all the relevant parties that Shiv was not going to continue his innings and I would say that poor management caused all this confusion."

"Shiv asked to go before the match began and permission was granted. He agreed to play for his country which was good for the game, especially since [Ramnaresh] Sarwan was asked to rest from this game," Singh told CMC.

"The idea was for him to leave after the day's play and return the next day but no flight was available out of Guyana to Trinidad after 10:30 pm. Shiv was forced to cut short his innings to catch that [sic] flight and as agreed, he returned the next day even though the second Test was being played in Trinidad."

Singh felt Chanderpaul "deserved to have been allowed to personally collect his awards", and blamed a flight delay for him not being able to resume his innings. "He could have also requested some rest and missed the last-round game, but in the absence of Sarwan he felt he needed to play. It was unfortunate that the unavailability of an afternoon [return] flight resulted in him having to cut short his innings.