TTCB president Bassarath hails contributions of Simmons, Ramdin

PRESIDENT of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board Azim Bassarath said the contributions of former West Indies captain Denesh Ramdin and top order batsman Lendl Simmons will be remembered, calling Ramdin the best wicket-keeper he has ever seen in the West Indies.

Both Ramdin and Simmons announced their retirement from international cricket over the past few days.

Simmons made his Windies debut in 2006 and Ramdin in 2005.

Ramdin and Simmons were part of the West Indies teams that won the 2012 and 2016 International Cricket Council T20 World Cups.

Both players have been consistent members of the TT Red Force team over the past two decades.

“I think that for both players it is sad to see them leave the international scene. I think they had two outstanding international careers,” Bassarath said.

Bassarath said Simmons played a “critical” knock in helping West Indies retain the World T20 title in 2016. Simmons scored 82 not out of 51 balls to help West Indies defeat India by seven wickets in the semifinals. West Indies chased a challenging 193 to win the contest.

Speaking about Simmons, Bassarath said, “He was indeed a more aggressive player and one who some of our own players have emulated over time. I think he had a good international career and we in TT hope he continues to stick around our local cricket and to help the youngsters coming up with his wealth of experience. I am quite sure he will be able to lend support to the younger guys and contribute in some positive way.”

Discussing Ramdin, Bassarath said, “From a very early stage people identified him to be a true leader...people continue to say he was the best gloveman in the Caribbean over a number of years.

“The TT Cricket Board will definitely be engaging him in some way to assist our young cricketers and we look forward to working with him, but he did have an outstanding international career to my estimation.”

Bassarath said his skills behind the stumps are world class. “From what I have seen personally and I have seen a lot of good wicket-keepers in the Caribbean, but definitely I would consider Denesh to be the best wicket-keeper that I have seen.”

The TTCB president said Ramdin had a level of maturity beyond his years. “That is what a number of people have noticed with him. He would have led people who were much older than him and who played cricket more years than him. It’s because of his knowledge of the game he got the support of those elder statesmen who he would have led.”