Emrit: Three-day club cricket will help Red Force

FORMER TT cricketer Rayad Emrit has thrown his support behind the TT Cricket Board in its plan to establish the Premier League I competition over three consecutive days for the top cricket clubs, saying it would help the TT Red Force batsmen to be more competitive at regional level.

In a TTCB media release on Friday, Emrit, 42, said for too long the competition has comprised two-day matches and it has not produced a national team which can successfully and consistently compete at the regional level.

“The only way we can change that is by the clubs playing more days of cricket, because we can’t be preparing for four-day (regional) matches while playing two days at a time, and sometimes we have a result in a day and a half.

“We need the cricketers to get used to a longer version of the game, and three days I think is ideal as they develop the ability to bat longer which will make the national team more competitive,” said Emrit, who represented West Indies in One-Day and T20 matches.

Emrit’s advocacy lends support to the TTCB’s president Azim Bassarath’s efforts to convince the top clubs that the three consecutive days of cricket will make a significant change in fortunes of the national team.

The foundation has already been laid with three matches in the 2023 Premier League I season played using the three-day format and the results have added new impetus to Bassarath’s initiative.

The TTCB said it has also been making representation to Government for funding to assist clubs to seamlessly make the transition to the longer version of the local game.

Emrit, who has also captained the St Kitts Nevis Patriots and the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League, said allocating points that reward teams batting more than 100 overs an innings will also provide an attractive incentive.

“Teams batting longer could achieve more points and would not have to go hard from ball one. They still have the option of batting out a day and claim the points,” Emrit said.

The right-arm fast bowler/batsman, who continues to ply his trade in franchise cricket internationally, lauded the opportunities provided by the TTCB in their youth development programmes.

He said there was a big gap between the Under-19s and the senior team when he was growing up, so he was happy that the deficiency was being finally addressed.

“Now the TTCB is bridging that gap with an Under-23 Cup tournament which is needed, for which they must be lauded. The youngsters now have a lot more to benefit from the Under-13, Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 programmes.”

He said the current players need to grasp the opportunities offered by the TTCB and aim at earning national selection especially with the expected retirement of a few stalwarts after giving yeoman service to the Red Force.

Among those who have signalled that 2024 may be their last are two former national captains, record-holding spinner Imran Khan, and middle-order batsman Jason Mohammed; and Test fast bowler Shannon Gabriel.

“The up-and-coming cricketers must continue to put pressure on the national selectors by their performances and make use of what is presented to them,” said Emrit.

Always admired for his discipline, commitment to fitness and self-motivation, Emrit says he is now focused on giving something back to the game after a stellar career.

For the past two seasons Emrit has been appointed coach of the national Under-17 team which has performed consistently well in the CWI Rising Stars regional competition, narrowly being denied top honours by the weather and a combination of other factors beyond the team’s control.