Trinidad and Tobago U15 cricket team honoured for regional success

The Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) paid special tribute to its recently crowned West Indies Rising Stars Under-15 50-over champions at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva on Monday.

The Brendan Boodoo-captained squad won their four matches played at Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua to claim top honours, two weeks ago.

The 17-member team was presented with medals and certificates from the TTCB and Scotiabank Foundation patron and former First Lady Zalayhar Hassanali.

They received high praise from TTCB president Azim Bassarath, Scotiabank Foundation director Peter Ghany and Scotiabank NextGen Cricket Development facilitator Brendon Ramlal.

Title-winning captain Boodoo and his teammates were all part of Scotiabank’s recent U15 development programme.

In his short address to attendees, Boodoo said the bank’s two-phase virtual life skills programme – a staple at each of its development programmes – played crucial roles in guiding him and his team throughout the tournament.

Of the 11 modules done in phase two of the programme, Boodoo said the modules captaincy and team culture, umpiring and strength and conditioning stood out for him.

“For me, it was an opportunity to grow and develop into a better cricketer and a better human being. Captaincy and team culture taught me that it was incredibly important to display positive body language and to be able to inspire confidence within my teammates.

“You want to be a motivational influence; that makes your team believe they can win no matter the situation. A captain that can inspire their players to keep fighting even when things look lost is a great captain in my view.

“I personally believe passion drives achievement. Only if you have passion for the game, will we succeed as a team,” Boodoo said.

Boodoo also thanked coach Brian Browne and manager Kelvin Mohammed for their hard work and for their belief in the team. He lauded his teammates.

“I want to give credit to my teammates without whom our victory would not have been possible. Every game someone stepped up and took responsibility.

“We were also able to be competitive in the field, keeping the runs down, taking the catches and forcing a number of runouts. Batting wise the scores were generally quite low throughout the tournament with the exception of the game against Barbados,” he added.

Vice-captain Yasir Deen also presented Bassarath with a framed picture of the champion squad.

Bassarath acknowledged the entire squad but also highlighted some of their individual accolades earned in Antigua.

“The boys were the outstanding performers in the 2023 Scotiabank sponsored U15 Development Programme, in which South East finished on top, and grabbed the major individual awards on ‘Player of the Tournament’ Brendan Boodoo, ‘Best Bowler’ Yasir Chan Deen and ‘Best Fieldsman’ Scyon Charles.

“I am sure the Scotiabank officials who are here this morning, will be very pleased to learn that their show of corporate responsibility and confidence placed in our cricketers were not misplaced and we look forward to many similar successes borne out by our partnership,” he said.

Ghany also showered praise on the trophy-winning unit.

“Well done, guys. You are testament that hard work pays off! Many of you have been engaged with cricket since the days of the Scotiabank Kiddy Cricket Programme and it really warms our hearts to see how far you’ve come and we’re extremely happy to celebrate with you.

“We continue to be proud to invest in this sport and see the positive impacts it has on our young people. This is now our 3rd year of the Scotiabank NextGen Cricket Programme and the 2nd year the Under-13 component is being conducted.”