da dobrowin： The first inkling manager Ricky Skerritt had of the latestcasualty in the West Indies team was when he saw LeonGarrick asleep in someone else’s bed
Tony Cozier06-Dec-2001The first inkling manager Ricky Skerritt had of the latestcasualty in the West Indies team was when he saw LeonGarrick asleep in someone else’s bed.The first indication that it might be critical came when heawoke Garrick, who spelt out the symptoms of a medicalcondition he had endured for some time.Confirmation that it was a potentially serious heart ailmentknown as sick sinus syndrome, which would end the littleopening batsman’s tour even before he had a chance to play amatch, came a couple of days later.Skerritt said he went to Wavell Hinds’ room last Friday tocheck on some details of his return home following the deathof his cousin and found Garrick on the bed sleeping.Normally, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it but theplayers now have rooms to themselves, rather than sharing,so I asked Wavell whether anything was the matter, Skerrittsaid.He revealed that Barney (the team’s nickname for Garrick)had complained of pains in his chest and had come to hisroom to be near a friend while he slept it off, Skerrittsaid.Alert to a possible difficulty following several in his timeas manager, Skerritt woke Garrick to be told that me hearthurting me, a periodic occurrence over the last two or threeyears.It seems it’s been common knowledge for some time but,because it didn’t persist, he’d not sought medicalattention, Skerritt said. But not knowing what was causingit had to concern him.He explained that the pain subsided and Garrick actuallyfielded as substitute and brilliantly for the injuredDinanath Ramnarine during the latter part of the Sri Lankaninnings of the third Test.In the meantime, I arranged for a specialist to see him andhe set up a procedure by which `Barney’ could be monitoredover a 24-hour period, he said. A battery of tests wascarried out with the latest equipment and the data showedhis heartbeat dropped to an unacceptably low level,bordering on the danger zone, when he was at rest.Skerritt stressed that, while there was cause for concern,the doctor here passed Garrick as fit enough to return toJamaica for further evaluations and treatment.He departed yesterday morning along with Ramnarine, whosustained a recurrence of the side strain that forced himhome early from the previous tour of Zimbabwe as well.That in itself was a fortunate coincidence in unfortunatecircumstances since Garrick would have a teammate with himon the long flight through London back to the Caribbean.Garrick’s role on the tour had been serving as 12th man, buthe would certainly have played in the triangular One-Dayseries also involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe that starts onSaturday.It’s a really unlucky break, Skerritt said. Barney’s been areal team man, taking on everything he did at practice, as12th man and in the field with complete enthusiasm.He said the doctor reported Garrick’s condition wastreatable with medication that should allow him to continuenormal life without dislocating his cricket career.Ironically, Garrick’s fellow Jamaican and opening partnerChris Gayle also suffers from a minor heart disorder knownas irrythmics by which the heartbeat speeds up.Skerritt said this had been detected early and Gayle nowtakes half-tablet of medication daily to keep it balanced.He has experienced no problems recently.The West Indies have been especially hard hit by withdrawalsfor one reason or another on each of their last two tours.Five players returned home prematurely from the tour ofZimbabwe, and now four have gone back from Sri Lanka, inaddition to Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s inability to comefollowing back spasms three days before the team’sdeparture.