TTCB – News

BG T&T praised for role in development of cricket
January 12, 2010

By ZAID MOHAMMED
Sports Editor

AT THE launch of the BG T&T National Zonal Youth Cricket Tournament yesterday were Wendell Constantine,
Adrian Barath, Arjoon Ramlal, Azim Bassarath, Lalman Kowlessar and Don Asgarali.
PHOTO BY ZAID MOHAMMED

PRESIDENT of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board Azim Bassarath yesterday placed on record the significant contribution made by BG Trinidad and Tobago to the development of the game locally.

Bassarath lauded the involvement of the oil and gas company at the media launch of the BG T&T National Zonal Youth Cricket Tournament at their company’s Hospitality Suite, Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain.

“The support of the BGTT Trinidad and Tobago family over the years has contributed significantly to the development of Trinidad and Tobago cricket.

“You have shown the way for other members of the corporate Trinidad and Tobago to have their say in the area of sports. If only we had more BG T&Ts, Trinidad and Tobago may be our beautiful island paradise it once promised to be,” said Bassarath.

Present at yesterday’s function were Lalman Kowlessar, chairman of the Organising Committee of the BG National Zonal Youth Cricket Tournament; Mark Regis, Government and Stakeholder Relations Manager BG T&T; West Indies opening batsman Adrian Barath; and Arjoon Ramlal, general secretary of the TTCB.

Bassarath in his keynote speech traced the involvement of BG T&T in local cricket since 1995 as sponsors of the Under-15 Inter-Zone competition.

He said after three years, the success was extended to the Under-17s and since 2007, all four age group Inter-Zone tournaments have been sponsored by BG T&T.

“The successes of our teams and individual players have their roots firmly planted in the fertile soil of development and nurtured by the positive energy vision of the TTCB/BG T&T relationship,” said Bassarath.

He said early in the partnership, T&T dominated the regional age-group competitions producing cricketers of the calibre of Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Denesh Ramdin at the Under-15 level.

This resulted in national success at the regional level for three consecutive years— 2000, 2001 and 2002— with six TT players selected on the West indies team which won the Costcutter World Cup in England ten years ago.

“Today the captain of the team, Tishan Maraj is a medical doctor and left-arm spinner Kavesh Kantasingh is playing for the Combined Campuses and Colleges.

“On Saturday Kantasingh destroyed T&T's batting in the opening match of the 2010 regional season coming away with remarkable figures of 12 wickets for 84 runs,” said Bassarath.

He said that the early exploits of fast bowler Ravi Rampaul, hard-hitting allrounder Kieron Pollard, batsman Barath and middle-order strokeplayer Jason Mohammed would not have attracted much attention.

“However because of the understanding of the importance of proper early training and development and the support of BG Trinidad and Tobago to put these in place, local cricket is richer today,” said Bassarath.

“Of course our players are richer too, in a material sense, for the emergence of lucrative international tournaments have seen both our team and individual players benefit.

“We now read of the exploits of Pollard and Bravo in far-off Australia. What an impact our youth programmes have made diligently towards this objective. The path going forward may be challenging but we are confident with the resources and support at our disposal, we will make the difference,” said Bassarath.

He said the TTCB under his stewardship is actively pursuing ways to enrich and and enhance age-group cricket.

“We can never be satisfied with what we have achieved. Our ultimate goal is a strong West Indies team and we at the TTCB in partnership with BG Trinidad and Tobago will continue working to ensure we achieve that major objective,” Bassarath said.

Bassarath said that not to be forgotten in the local cricket set-up are the administrators, coaches, teachers and parents as important resource providers for the TTCB cricket development programmes.

“Without the support of some of these people we would have achieved nothing. They very rarely are headlined for their sterling work but we at the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board acknowledge you, salute you and thank you for your unstinting support,” said Bassarath.