Baugh ponders club future
WICKETKEEPER/BATSMAN Carlton Baugh may be on his way out of local team Melbourne CC due to an ongoing standoff between himself and the club.
Following a recent meeting between Baugh, Melbourne, the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), Fritz Harris, the JCA’s secretary, said yesterday the diminutive gloveman will have to decide on “whether he wants to continue” with his boyhood club.
“To a large extent the matter is pretty much done with. The JCA met with Baugh and Melbourne and the club officials made it clear that they have nothing against him. It is up to Carlton Baugh now… I guess Carlton now has to consider his own situation.
“This tiff really stems from not enough communication between the parties. He (Baugh) is not facing a suspension or a fine or anything like that. On whether he wants to continue with Melbourne I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” Harris told the Jamaica Observer.
This newspaper did make phone contact with the wicketkeeper yesterday afternoon, but he offered a “no comment” pending the receipt of further information outstanding from the said meeting.
Attempts to contact Melbourne president Neville Atkinson proved fruitless as phone calls to his mobile went to voicemail.
Baugh and Melbourne have had an uncomfortable relationship since late 2011 when the 30-year-old failed to show for a JAM T20 semi-final match and was subsequently fined.
Despite mediation involving WIPA, which appeared to resolve that issue, another rift emerged when the 30-year-old played no part in the club’s 2012 T20 campaign.
That episode culminated in Baugh being ineligible for national T20 call-up based on the JCA selection guidelines.
Baugh has represented the West Indies in 21 Tests and averages 17.94 with a top score of 68. He has taken 43 catches and completed five stumpings.
In 47 One-Day Internationals, the former Wolmer’s Boys’ student averages 20.08 and has accounted for 39 catches and 12 stumpings. He has only played three T20 matches at the international level.
Baugh also boasts an average of 32.63, including 12 hundreds and 19 fifties in 95 First Class appearances.
