Hearing soon into cricket fist-fight

GEORGETOWN: The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has confirmed that a public fistfight between two senior players was reason for the shake-up of their Carib Beer Cup squad and made it clear a disciplinary hearing would be convened to get to the bottom of the matter. Reacting to an exclusive CaribbeanCricket.com report that provided details of a fistfight between vice captain Mahendra Nagamootoo and all-rounder Lennox Cush, GCB spokesman Terry Holder said a meeting of the GCB’s disciplinary committee will be convened as soon as written reports are submitted by the team’s manager and coach. Holder, who sits on the GCB’s disciplinary committee along with attorney Moses Bhagwan and Edwin Richmond, said the players involved in the melee will be summoned to “explain why should not be disciplined.”

He said it was likely that Vishal Nagamootoo would be summoned to the meeting to explain the level of his involvement. Holder said the decision to drop Nagamootoo and Cush from the squad for the match against the Leewards was made by the national selection panel after a board meeting that included comments from team captain Neil McGarrell. “The board cannot get into selection matters. We have a disciplinary committee and we will proceed with that. We have to be mindful of due process and the players must be given the right to be heard,” Holder explained. “If it was a forum for disciplinary action, we may have asked for greater details. But, at that time, we were discussing mostly cricket matters. We did get information at that meeting about other cricket-related indiscipline and the selectors acted on that.” “We heard about players arguing on the field. We heard about senior players not wanting to bowl from a certain end. It was a nightmare for the captain...Once we found that things were wrong, we left it in the hands of selectors to decide.”

Holder confirmed the two players were fined half their match fees (US $200). The fight broke out after the first day’s play of the match between Guyana and the Windwards at Dominica’s Botanic Gardens. An eyewitness said the elder Nagamootoo boarded the team bus and demanded that pacer Rayon Griffith vacate a seat. At this point, Cush intervened and a quarrel ensued between the two. Before long, punches were thrown by both parties and Nagamootoo picked up a cricket bat to go after Cush. The fight, which happened in full public view, had to be broken up by the Mayor of Roseau, Cecil Joseph, who threatened both Nagamootoos with arrest.