Selection of Red Force coach put on hold

THE TT Cricket Board (TTCB) has put on hold, for the time being, the interview process to select a coach of the national men's team, according to a media release.

Meeting via Zoom on Monday, the executive of the TTCB unanimously agreed that, in the face of recent developments especially brought on by the covid19 pandemic, it would not be feasible to make an appointment at this time.

President of the TTCB Azim Bassarath said that financial and other conditions, which seriously impacted the game in the Caribbean and globally, were taken into consideration in reaching the decision.

He said Cricket West Indies (CWI) met last week and decided on several drastic cost-cutting measures which reduced by 50 percent the allocations to territorial boards and the salaries of its own staff. And as a result of the curtailment of all cricket activities for the rest of 2020, it was not deemed essential to follow up on the process to select a national coach for the TT Red Force team.

Bassarath said that the CWI has also to cancel the Regional 2020 Super50 Cup and to reduce the 2021 Regional 4-Day Tournament to just five rounds with each territorial team playing each other once which has minimised the amount of regional cricket scheduled to be played.

He said that the situation should become clearer later in the year when a decision will be made concerning the selection of the Red Force coach.

When the deadline closed on April 30, there were 18 applicants for the position including interest from here at home, Barbados, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and South Africa.