TTCB – News

Bassarath: T&T will not go down Windies road
Vinode Mamchan
Published: 3 Jan 2010 in the Trinidad Guardian [link]

President of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) Azim Bassarath is supporting the call made by former West Indies fast bowler Andy Roberts that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) should focus on grassroots cricket. Roberts made a call for the WICB to focus on development at the grassroots level and said that West Indies cricket administrators were not interested in helping the sport.

Bassarath speaking to the Trinidad Guardian said: “When I saw the article it really caught my attention because in my work so far in cricket, I have always concentrated on the grassroots. I would like to endorse what Andy Roberts is saying. This is the way to go and if the WICB don’t do exactly that, we are in for a continued struggle.”

Bassarath said that the WICB faltered badly in the past and that is why cricket is in a poor state in the Caribbean today. “When the West Indies were winning the administrators did not put things in place to ensure continued success.

“We at the TTCB have taken note of this and we are not going to make the same mistakes. T&T is a dominant force in West Indies cricket at the moment and we are putting measures in place to ensure that we continue to dominate. “We are going to the grassroots and getting involved with our clubs. Our ambition is to have a West Indies Cricket Board Level I coach attached to all our clubs.

“We are also not going to neglect the youngsters. When I was chairman of the South East Zone, I started an under-15 cricket tournament and this really helped the youngsters a lot. We intend to have an under-15 tournament for Premier League clubs to ensure that we catch those aspiring cricketers in that age group.”