Ganga queries Queen's Park dominance on Red Force squad

FORMER Red Force captain and West Indies opener Daren Ganga is questioning why one club in Trinidad and Tobago gets the majority of the picks on the national men's cricket team.

In the last match the Red Force played in the 2022 West Indies Four-Day Championship against Leeward Islands Hurricanes, ten players in the starting XI were Queen’s Park Cricket Club (QPCC) members. The match, which Red Force lost by 187 runs, ended on Saturday at the Diego Martin Sporting Complex.

Jason Mohammed, a PowerGen cricketer, was the only player in the starting XI who is not a member of QPCC. Red Force captain Imran Khan, who played for Central Sports this season, contracted covid19 before the match against Hurricanes and was ruled out.

In the previous two rounds, Queen's Park had eight players on the starting XI.

Red Force coach David Furlonge was in charge of Queen's Park before his appointment to the national team in 2020.

QPCC have dominated domestically and produced Red Force and West Indies players.

On Monday, Ganga pointed to the lack of cricket development in rural areas under the TT Cricket Board led by president Azim Bassarath.

The former Alescon Comets player posted on social media, “The 2022 TT men’s senior cricket team is a virtual Queen’s Park Cricket Club playing XI & a coach also from that institution. Help me interpret local cricket development, Bassarath’s TTCB leadership, support & value for other clubs & players from remote areas. Is this fair/acceptable?”