Give us Dowlin! We will give you Chattergoon!

Over the years the Guyana selectors have never failed to amaze me. If they are not dropping someone because he is too old (at 30!) they are picking someone else because “it is time to give the youths a chance”, or – in this age when every Jack, and his grandmother, carries a cell phone – the player cannot be located.

Travis Dowlin is not hard to locate. Even if you are finding it difficult just contact his club president, a close personal friend. He will know how to find him. So, it must be that at 33 he is too old to be considered for the recent WICB 50-over tournament in Jamaica.

But wait! Didn’t he score two half-centuries from four games when Guyana won the Caribbean 20/20? Oh, but he did fail to score quickly in the AirTel in South Africa when, according one reporter, he was following the coach’s orders to be watchful and lay a solid foundation. Okay! He did not produce the goods in South Africa but what does his performance in a 20/20 have to do with selection for a 50-over competition? And did he not produce another half-century from two games in the inter-county, which was used as a yardstick for the Jamaica tournament? And how remiss it would be of me not to mention a mere five months ago he was considered good enough to be playing Tests!

The other senior player overlooked for the Jamaica tournament was Sewnarine Chattergoon. Like Dowlin, he failed in South Africa, and apart from one innings, did the same in the Caribbean T20. To me this is not surprising since I do not believe his style of play is suited for that format of the game. What is surprising to me is his palpable lack of form dating back to the 2009 President’s Cup (50-over) when he averaged 7.75, and the 2010 four-day when his average was 17.75. It was a sad to see a player identified for big things ever since he appeared for the West Indies Under-15, deteriorate so rapidly.

In my opinion Chattergoon was due for a dropping. He could not go alone however, so the bartering started.

Chatters had to take a Demerarian with him. That happened to be Dowlin, while a younger Demerarian and a much younger Berbician (who ended up not playing a game on tour) made the squad.

A so me see it!