Red Force’s future looks rosy

IT has been announced that the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force team has to include newcomers, because of the present tour of the West Indies side in the two-Test series in Pakistan.

Opportunities knock for the youngsters to gain the experience necessary to play first-class cricket. This, of course, will not only affect the Red Force, but also the other seven teams that will be participating in the West Indies Cricket Championship.

The first game for the TT Red Force is on January 29, when they come up against the Combined Campuses and Colleges at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba. It’s a day/night pink-ball encounter that starts at 1 pm, scheduled to end each night at 8 pm.

These situations should create openings for young cricketers and others who may have been regularly on the fringe of selection, but never cemented a place in their territories’ teams. The selectors have a tough task on their hands to identify those who are worthy of the opportunity to become international cricketers.

The big problem is that those players with talent and backed by performance are soon snatched up by the world’s super-rich franchises for their own purposes, at enormous fees that the players can’t refuse and with which their native country, which bred them to be the cricketers they have become, cannot compete, and thus eventually lose them.

The franchises should be made to pay a fee for the use of the player, for no one wants to deprive the cricketer of earnings, which are a just reward for his ability and the hard work used to develop it. Nevertheless, his club and coaches should also be recognised.

Actually, when it first began in India around 2008, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, quite fairly, paid fees to Cricket West Indies for the West Indian players who were contracted, and insisted the local club that bred the player should also be rewarded. This is still being done.

I want to commend Jason Mohammed, the former national and West Indian batsman, for his superb double century for South in the recent North/South Classic. He would be the ideal player to assist some of these youngsters in how to approach their game in a mature fashion.

Mohammed, one would recall, also was the captain of the West Indies team in a limited-over series in Bangladesh a few years ago. That experience at international level would be a huge plus for him to be able to assist Bryan Charles, the captain of TT Red Force, when and where required, whether in team meetings or on the field of play.

If Mohammed could maintain his batting form as a lesson to the inexperienced batsmen in correct batsmanship, it would be a plus for the youths. He’s such a skilled player, who seems to be improving with age, like a fine wine. He plays strokes all round the wicket like a true artist at work. As well as his flair for batting, he’s more than a useful off-break bowler.

The lack of top-class batsmanship in TT and the WI make the case for someone with the courage and temperament of Mohammed to assist the newcomers, leading by example and not by boasting, but by sharing knowledge with the team for them to understand the game.

His advice should be to explain to his teammates the benefits of practice. He must advise the batsmen, as well as the bowlers and fielders, so that in a game the need for the right mentality will encourage all players to think of the unfolding of the game as if they were the captain.

An important factor for training youthful newcomers is to build their confidence, by encouraging their self-belief, letting them know they are worthy of selection and with constant practice, ambition, self-confidence and positive thinking, the sky’s the limit!

To summarise: I compliment the TT selectors for introducing promising youngsters into the national team. I have seen these youths on TV and read about their exploits at college level and in trials. I see a bright future for them all.

Andrew Rambaran, an all-rounder, at 19, is quite mature for his age and seems ready for first-class cricket. The others will also benefit by being around experienced players.

My advice to these youths: be yourselves, enjoy your cricket. Concentrate at all times. Relax – and enjoy!