Former West Indies off-spinner and coach Roger Harper is among four men chosen by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to be on the senior selection panel for the regional team.
Harper, a Guyanese, will be joined by the former Windward Islands batsman and selector Lockhart Sebastien, who was removed earlier this year before the new selection guidelines were being put in place. Sebastien re-applied and was chosen as on the new panel. He was part of the Courtney Browne-led panel that included Eldine Baptiste and Travis Dowlin.
Also making the grade as a senior selector are former Windwards batsman Miles Bascombe and Hendy Wallace, who served as chairman of the Barbados senior selection panel.
The new panel will get to work very soon in choosing the West Indies team to tour India for the twin series against Afghanistan and India which gets going in November.
Harper's international career lasted 13 years, from 1983 to 1996, and he distinguished himself as a brilliant fielder. His Test bowling average of 28.06 is superior to that of Lance Gibbs, giving him the leading average among all West Indian spinners with at least 25 Test wickets.
After his playing career he became a coach, taking over the West Indies team between 2000 and 2003 and also managing of the West Indies Youth team in 2005. However, he was approached by Cricket Kenya in late December 2005 with an offer to take over stewardship of the Kenya team. After this, he went on to coach the West Indies team.
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It is estimated that over one million Guyanese, when counting their dependents, live outside of Guyana. This exceeds the population of Guyana, which is now about 750,000. Many left early in the 50’s and 60’s while others went with the next wave in the 70’s and 80’s. The latest wave left over the last 20 years. This outflow of Guyanese, therefore, covers some three generations. This outflow still continues today, where over 80 % of U.G. graduates now leave after graduating. We hope this changes, and soon.
Guyanese, like most others, try to keep their culture and pass it on to their children and grandchildren. The problem has been that many Guyanese have not looked back, or if they did it was only fleetingly. This means that the younger generations and those who left at an early age know very little about Guyana since many have not visited the country. Also, if they do get information about Guyana, it is usually negative and thus the cycle of non-interest is cultivated.
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