Trinidad and Tobago cricket needs a breath of fresh air

THE EDITOR: It is good to see the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board will be electing/selecting another executive committee for the next four years.

I have read that the current president indicated he has unfinished business as head of the board. Two of his supporters in the Central and South East zones have praised him for the giant steps made in improving TT cricket.

These statements have me confused. How can someone who has been in a position for 12 years, and has been doing such a great job, still claim to have unfinished business?

The TT Red Force has won the Super 50 cup on five occasions in the 2008-2020 period but has not been as consistent as it should be for a West Indies powerhouse. On the flip side, we have not won a four-day tournament in the last 12 years (Jamaica: 4, Barbados: 3 and Guyana: 5).

Going into the post 12 years ago with a development plan should have been his mantra, but he now knows there’s unfinished business? His supporters from the South East zone have seen the quality of cricket in that zone deteriorate so badly that their representative teams barely put up a fight in any competition.

Central also suffers but for the input from clubs to keep the zone in a competitive mode. None of the zones or the TTCB have shown marketing skills to generate income whilst still awaiting subvention from government.

To my mind, if the current administration remains in charge for another four years then we will only be playing fete matches since we will not be able to compete on any stage.

For the love of cricket, can the clubs get rid of the slickers they have as representatives who are loyal to this weak administration and elect people who can actually carry our cricket forward? In five years, all our young players could very well be competing on the US cricket circuit and that country can soon be the cricket powerhouse in this hemisphere.

This will not happen because they have money but because we in the West Indies are bereft of ideas as the people who we put to run cricket only see this as a means to earning a salary and the luxury of riding first class to foreign destinations.

Find young, dynamic cricket-loving individuals with some common sense, qualifications and general cricketing knowledge to run the affairs of the board. I think it is time for change, and it is time to let new people with new ideas come to the fore to lead TT cricket into the future.

LARRY SOOKLALSINGH

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