‘We’ll be back’ says team manager

MERRY Boys manager and president Sebastian Edwards expressed his confidence that the Diego Martin-based club will bounce back and return to the premiership division of local cricket after the club was relegated from the top flight on Sunday.

Merry Boys have been a powerhouse in local cricket, playing in the top division for the past 20 years winning a number of titles.

Merry Boys have been successful throughout the various formats over the last five years. Some of the club’s titles in that period are the 2014 UWI T20 title, 2014 National League and the 2015 NGC T20 Tournament, with a victory over powerhouse Queen’s Park.

After losing to Queen’s Park by an innings and 24 runs on Sunday, they ended the 2019 National League Premiership two-day competition seventh in the eight-team standings, which led to their demotion. Last-placed El Socorro Youth Movement were also relegated.

A number of factors have led to a disappointing season for Merry Boys, including lack of sponsorship, losing a number of national and senior players and the death of the club’s president Patrick Rampersad last year.

Edwards said, “Based on how we started the season, we did fairly well to even compete this season at all, based on what transpired before the season started, with the death of our main sponsor and president.”

He also said players “basically played for free because the club still does not have a sponsor...we got only small help in some cases, just equipment or water from a couple sponsors. By and large players basically played the entire season (for free) – and we still have a couple games to play – played for the love of the game. And we are still owing a lot of money to players.”

The Merry Boys manager said being demoted could be a blessing in disguise.

“We not too disheartened...Premier One down to Premier Two might be just what the club needs to regroup.” Edwards said when people talk about top cricket clubs in TT, Merry Boys is always in the conversation.

“We have every intention of bringing the club right back to that condition, and thankfully we have a home ground now that we could generate new players.”

Merry Boys will use the Diego Martin Sporting Complex as its home ground, a facility that opened one month ago.

“It have a lot of youngsters coming up from schools in the area and we looking to introduce some more structure and bring back cricket into the community of Diego Martin. There are a lot of talented youths within the area so we looking to work with them and return the club to its glory days as soon as possible.”

Players unfortunately left the club since the 2018 season and Edwards said it is difficult to replace those quality players.

“We lost six or seven senior players to other clubs before the season even started. We lost no less than three players who were on the national team at the time – Isaiah Rajah, Marlon Richards and Ricky Jaipaul.”

Edwards said other seasoned players such as Aneil Kanhai, Ranga Lachana and Lincoln Roberts were valuable members that have also gone to other clubs.