President of the Leeward Islands Cricket Association Mr. Auckland Hector was very careful in his response to a specific question on Monday 1st September.
Sportscaster Curtis Morton pointedly asked him about the selection of the St.Kitts-Nevis team which concluded a match versus the touring Bangladesh team on that same day at Warner Park in St.Kitts.
Mr. Hector without calling any specific names indicated that contact was made with the Nevis Cricket Association and a request was made for a list of players from Nevis to be identified with the possibility of selection to the team.
According to Mr. Hector, no positive response was received from the Nevis end within the set timelines given and so the team was selected by officials within the St.Kitts Cricket Association.
The original team did not include any players from Nevis but included West Indies star batsman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who was included at the behest of the West Indies Cricket Board in order for him to get some well needed match practice leading up to the test series, which commences this coming Friday.
The team also included guest players from St.Maarten and Montserrat. These players were included, stated Mr. Hector because the players from these islands don’t normally get too much exposure to international cricket of this nature.
When it was pointed out that Tonito Willet of Nevis eventually played in the match, Mr. Hector indicated that Willet was not included on the request of the Nevis Cricket Association. Willet actually showed up in St.Kitts and requested a game on his own behalf and was received with open arms.
Local Cricketing pundits in Nevis are still lamenting the fact that somebody or bodies did not do what was required and thus talented young cricketers like Ross Powell; Kezron Archibald; Adelvin Phillip and the like were cheated of an opportunity to showcase their talent at such a high level.
On the other hand, talented Kittitian youthful allrounder Jeremiah Louis expressed joy at having the privilege of sharing in an important partnership with the legendary Shiv Chanderpaul at the other end.
‘I felt really good today, just batting with Chanderpaul,’ he stated.
Efforts to reach the President of the Nevis Cricket Association, Keith Scarborough for an explanation on the matter, proved futile, up to press time.