TTCB – News

Cricket Board chief praises U-15 champs
April 10, 2010

THE TRINIDAD and Tobago Under-15 team which won the recent regional championships

PRESIDENT of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB), Azim Bassarath has praised the Trinidad and Tobago cricket team for winning the recently concluded West Indies Under-15 Championships.

The national Under-15 team finished the tournament tied on eight points with Jamaica and Guyana. However, the Under-15 team was declared champions due to having a superior net run rate.

“It was an outstanding performance by the team and the players showed great character. This is the third tournament that has been won under our administration. The national team defended their 50-over title with the national Under-13 winning a Tri-Nations League and Limited Overs tournament in Barbados,” said Bassarath.

“This reflects that in our short time in office our efforts are bearing fruit and we are looking to implement more programmes to strengthen our youth and national teams which by extension will benefit West Indies cricket,” said Bassarath.

The national Under-15 team ended a five-year barren spell with their success at the regional youth tournament this year and Bassarath stated that a new trend of winning will commence.

“This is the start of something new! When the new administration came into office we made it clear that the under achieving of the youth teams must end. We called in all our coaches and spoke to them about the importance of the youth programmes and producing teams to win tournament,” noted Bassarath.

Trinidad and Tobago have not won the league title at the TCL Group West Indies Under-19 Championships since 2005 while only winning the Limited Overs title in 2008.

“We believe the national Under-19 team will follow in the same fashion as the Under-15 cricketers. What made the Under-15 team successful is that they had enough time to prepare.

“The previous four years there was poor preparation and the team was not ready before the tournament. We are hoping to have the Under-19 team selected early and they will be ready on time. The players will have lots or preparation and we want them to have enough time together so they can get to know each other and gel as a team,” said Bassarath.

He explained that it was imperative that the TTCB ensured all needs of the team were met during their preparation. Trinidad and Tobago coach, Kelvin Williams was brought it to work on fielding drills with the team while a mental development camps sponsored by BG TT was conducted.

The highly respected cricket administrator praised national Under-15 coach, Bachan Boochoon and manager Glen Dwarika for the work they did in shaping a successful team and ending the title drought.

“The coach and manager brought a great deal of experience and commitment to the team. There was a lot of commitment by Glen Dwarika and he showed that he was dedicated to the task at hand.

“Bachan Boochoon who was cast into the wilderness by the previous administration for four years which led to a demise in our youth cricket brought his knowledge and used it to great effect,” said Bassarath.