The Garrick affair

The first inkling manager Ricky Skerritt had of the latest casualty in the West Indies team was when he saw Leon Garrick asleep in someone else's bed.

The first indication that it might be critical came when he awoke Garrick, who spelt out the symptoms of a medical condition he had endured for some time.

Confirmation that it was a potentially serious heart ailment known as sick sinus syndrome, which would end the little opening batsman's tour even before he had a chance to play a match, came a couple of days later.

Skerritt said he went to Wavell Hinds' room last Friday to check on some details of his return home following the death of his cousin and found Garrick on the bed sleeping.

Normally, I wouldn't have thought anything of it but the players now have rooms to themselves, rather than sharing, so I asked Wavell whether anything was the matter, Skerritt said.

He revealed that Barney (the team's nickname for Garrick) had complained of pains in his chest and had come to his room to be near a friend while he slept it off, Skerritt said.

Alert to a possible difficulty following several in his time as manager, Skerritt woke Garrick to be told that me heart hurting me, a periodic occurrence over the last two or three years.

It seems it's been common knowledge for some time but, because it didn't persist, he'd not sought medical attention, Skerritt said. But not knowing what was causing it had to concern him.

He explained that the pain subsided and Garrick actually fielded as substitute and brilliantly for the injured Dinanath Ramnarine during the latter part of the Sri Lankan innings of the third Test.

In the meantime, I arranged for a specialist to see him and he set up a procedure by which `Barney' could be monitored over a 24-hour period, he said. A battery of tests was carried out with the latest equipment and the data showed his heartbeat dropped to an unacceptably low level, bordering on the danger zone, when he was at rest.

Skerritt stressed that, while there was cause for concern, the doctor here passed Garrick as fit enough to return to Jamaica for further evaluations and treatment.

He departed yesterday morning along with Ramnarine, who sustained a recurrence of the side strain that forced him home early from the previous tour of Zimbabwe as well.

That in itself was a fortunate coincidence in unfortunate circumstances since Garrick would have a teammate with him on the long flight through London back to the Caribbean.

Garrick's role on the tour had been serving as 12th man, but he would certainly have played in the triangular One-Day series also involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe that starts on Saturday.

It's a really unlucky break, Skerritt said. Barney's been a real team man, taking on everything he did at practice, as 12th man and in the field with complete enthusiasm.

He said the doctor reported Garrick's condition was treatable with medication that should allow him to continue normal life without dislocating his cricket career.

Ironically, Garrick's fellow Jamaican and opening partner Chris Gayle also suffers from a minor heart disorder known as irrythmics by which the heartbeat speeds up.

Skerritt said this had been detected early and Gayle now takes half-tablet of medication daily to keep it balanced. He has experienced no problems recently.

The West Indies have been especially hard hit by withdrawals for one reason or another on each of their last two tours.

Five players returned home prematurely from the tour of Zimbabwe, and now four have gone back from Sri Lanka, in addition to Shivnarine Chanderpaul's inability to come following back spasms three days before the team's departure.