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Ramnarine bows out

Sunday, November 30 2003

Dinanath Ramnarine, at the age of 28 years, has announced his retirement from first class cricket. Ramnarine's decision appears to have sprung from frustration at continuously being ignored by the West Indies selections.

According to his letter of resignations, Hooper and Ramnarine allegedly had a bad relationship and it is believed that that may have had something to do with his original dropping from the team. This is in reference to an clash between the two players during the series against Pakistan in Sharjah last year.

In his letter of resignation, Ramnarine stated, "When, during my last overseas tour, the then capatin, after a minor, trivial disagreement off the field, announced that as long as he was captain I will never play for the West Indies, I shrugged my shoulders as I felt confident that such petty conduct would not prevail."

He continued, "Indeed, I thought the intervention of the selectors would have circumvented such insanity. Or is it inanity? But I have been told and now I know, that the older you get the more you learn."

Later that year, Ramnarine as WIPA (West Indies Players' Association) president pushed successfully for equal sharing of sponsorship prize money rather than the previous seniority preference.

"I haven't been chosen for the West Indies for the last two years and I don't think it was because of my performances on the cricket field."

Ramnarine's feelings toward the issue were summed up in the statement, "I believe the whole Caribbean knew what was taking place but everyone basically allowed it to happen.At the end of the day, you have to decide what it is you want to accomplish. I've been basically playing cricket, day in, day out, for the past two years and not been able to get a chance."

Ramnarine debuted against England in 1998. In his 12-Test career, he took 45 wickets at an average of 30.73. His career best figures of 5/78 came against South Africa in 2001. In that series he took 20 wickets, a record for a West Indian spinner in that length of series.

In the recently completed Red Stripe Bowl, Ramnarine led all bowlers with 12 wickets (tied with three others) at a fine average of 11 in his 5 games. His best bowling in that competition was 5/24 and his economy rate stood at a formidable 3.44. Ramnarine was shortlisted to go to South Africa prior to his announcement.

Posted by Liam