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BERMUDA | RSS PODCAST

Borden pays a heavy price for walking out

Enough is enough: Bermuda national coach Gus Logie (right) makes his feelings known about Delyone Borden, while a stern faced BCB president Reggie Pearman sits next to him during a press conference to announce the squad for the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa.

Delyone Borden's transgressions in Grenada last week ultimately led to him being overlooked for selection for Bermuda's World Cup qualifying squad that was announced yesterday at a Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) press conference.

According to national coach Gus Logie, the all-rounder walked off during the middle of a match and then refused to play in another, actions that prompted the BCB to take stern action against arguably the Island's best spinner.

At the time of the alleged incidents, Borden had been involved in a pay dispute with the Board who have been accused of treating the player "unfairly".

"Delyone was on a seconded arrangement with Works and Engineering and they were due to pay his salary and there was some delay on that," explained BCB Chief Executive Neil Speight.

"To help him through that period the Board did provide an advance so he can meet his obligations until that money came through.

"When he let us know that there was potentially another issue, another advance was offered and not accepted."

National coach Logie backed up Speight's claims that a pay advance had been offered after Borden had complained of having no money in his account.

"When Delyone realised he had an issue he spoke to the CEO (Speight) of the Board about it. The CEO and the Board were quite prepared to give Delyone the advance that was needed, but he refused that advance and that's a decision that he made rightly or wrongly so," he said.

"At the end of the day the situation was that Delyone accepted the terms and conditions of the contract that he went with to the Caribbean."

However, the player's mother has refuted the Board's claims that her son refused an advance in pay while in the Caribbean.

"Delyone did not refuse anything and they (BCB) told him he would have his funds in his account which never came," argued Beverly Borden. "If the BCB said the funds were there, then they should have been there."

It is understood that Borden was involved in a similar pay dispute with the BCB after the 2007 World Cup when the latter reneged on paying the player a monthly $1,500 stipend for his involvement with the national squad between January and March of that year.

Along with St.David's team-mate, OJ Pitcher jr, Borden withdrew his services from the squad after the World Cup in the Caribbean in protest of the pay dispute with the Board.

"Our young, good cricketers are being treated unfairly. Our Bermuda cricketers are being jerked around and it is not fair. I don't give him any right to walk off the field and leave his team, but I feel he is being penalised and so are others," Borden's mother argued.

"I have talked with other cricketers' parents and one lady told me that her son also hadn't been paid like Delyone and she had to go up there (to the BCB) in their face and put a couple of choice words into them so that her son can get paid.

"I think this whole matter should have long been straightened out because it has been going on since last October where they (BCB) would only put some funds into his account but not all he was due.

"He would get paid one week and then there would be nothing for weeks.

"He hasn't even received a pay stub to show what he has been paid for and, as far we know he could have lost money. Who knows?"

Asked was Borden ever involved in a previous pay dispute with his administration during yesterday's press conference, BCB president Reggie Pearman replied: "The past is finished. I am not dealing with the past anymore.

"The contracts were explained to everyone well in advance. Everyone assessed what it was and either signed or didn't sign it."

In any case, by taking matters into his own hands Borden did not do himself any favours and virtually ruled himself out of contention for team selection.

Offering his version of the events that led to the all-rounder's downfall, Logie said: "We were in the middle of a game, Delyone left the field because he felt at the time that he needed to have the funds in his account.

"That's leaving your team on the field of play and coming off. What does that say to someone?

"At the end of the day he (Borden) was told about it; he was told it was unacceptable.

"It (Borden's actions) showed a sign of weakness that at the first sign of any kind of adversity you were quite prepared to leave your team on the field of play."

Logie said the Board were prepared to give Borden another chance to redeem himself. But by refusing to play in Bermuda's second match on tour of Grenada the BCB were left with no other alternative other than to put their foot down and impose tough sanctions.

"We felt that we would give him an opportunity to make amends with two games to go (on tour), but it didn't happen. Two days later the situation arose again when he (Borden) said 'I'm not making myself available'. What then do you do? Do you continue to accept that kind of behaviour when you have other players in the team who are giving one hundred percent all the time?," Logie added.

"I don't care how valuable he (Borden) might be to the team. No one person is going to make Bermuda succeed or lose but if you continue to make excuses for indisciplined behaviour then we are all going to lose.

"And I'm tired of it, to be quite honest.

"At the end of the day there are a lot of players who have previous issues. We had made a commitment to go on tour (of the Caribbean) with the team that we had. We made it quite clear to everyone that efforts on the tour will be rewarded.

"No-one was supposed to be exempted from that. The tour was to prepare ourselves and some guys just did not take the opportunity to do so. The selectors saw that and decided, end of story.

"The team that we have selected we believe is the best team that represents the core values that we want to achieve in South Africa."

Squad: Irving Romaine (captain), David Hemp (v-captain), Christopher Douglas, Fiqre Crockwell, Lionel Cann, Stephen Outerbridge, Jekon Edness, Janeiro Tucker, Glenn Blakeney, Dwayne Leverock, Rodney Trott, Tamauri Tucker, Stefan Kelly, Kyle Hodsoll, George O'Brien. Reserves: Jacobi Robinson, Jordan DeSilva, Kevon Fubler.

Officials: Gus Logie (National Coach), Lionel Tannock (Team Manager), Lionel Thomas (Chairman of the Selectors), Craig Brown (Physio), Lorenzo Tucker (Match Analysis), Clay Smith (Assistant Coach), Herbert Bascome (Assistant Coach and Statistician).