Marchin Patriots upset over TTCB club of the year snub

South zone club Marchin Patriots are claiming they should have been crowned as TT Cricket Board's (TTCB) club of the year at the annual awards ceremony on Saturday.

TTCB's club of the year honour instead went to Merry Boys Sports Club, who captured the premiership II north zone 50-over title and the premiership II league title.

Meanwhile, Marchin captured three titles in the 2023 season. Marchin won the premiership II south zone 50-over and league titles. Marchin also defeated Merry Boys en route to lifting the premiership II T20 crown. Both teams were promoted to the premiership for the 2024 season for their stellar play in the 2023 league campaign.

On Monday, Marchin wrote to the secretary of the national league committee seeking clarification on the method used to determine the club of the year.

"Marchin Patriots had an exceptional season in 2023, winning more titles than any other club in the national league. However, for reasons unknown, we were not awarded the club of the year title," a letter from their secretary Ricky Rampersad said.

"Traditionally, this award is given to the club that wins the most titles in a given season. It is therefore perplexing to us that despite winning more titles than the eventual awardee, Merry Boys, and even defeating them in the national T20 tournament, we were not recognised."

When contacted on Wednesday, TTCB general secretary Altaf Baksh said other factors are taken into consideration when selecting the club of the year. Baksh said both Merry Boys and Marchin were in contention for the award, along with Central Sports. The latter won the premiership I T20 title and finished third in the premiership I 50-over competition.

"One issue has to be disciplinary issues, where we want clubs to be accountable for how they conduct themselves during the cricket season. There were several issues which were in fact a separating factor in the decision to award Merry Boys," Baksh told Newsday.

"You had the three clubs, with one having development programmes as opposed to the other two. That was Central Sports."

According to Baksh, player development, club structure, overall team performance and discipline all factored into the TTCB's decision.

"So by structure, I'm talking about how well they have set up their accounts and so on, as well their infrastructure at the ground, the executive, and whether or not they are completing their meetings on time – according to the constitution. All these things went into the discussion.

"It is just like in selecting a team, everybody feels they should be in the eleven, you know. But you cannot satisfy everyone to say that everyone will be on the eleven. There was quite a lot of discussion on it and then we zoned in on the eventual club of the year which was Merry Boys."

Baksh did not say which criteria Marchin failed to satisfy in their pursuit for the club of the year award. He said the TTCB executive was due to meet on Wednesday evening before issuing a formal response to Marchin.