TTCB – News

Cricket chief hails local fans for support
June 9, 2011

LOCAL cricket fans of the West Indies and India teams were the recipients of high praise after turning out in their large numbers to see three international matches --- a T20 and two One-Day Internationals --- last Saturday, Monday and Wednesday  at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain.

The Trinidad and Tobago cricket Board in a media release on Thursday stated that the spirit shown by the cricket loving public in the face of several challenges including traffic congestion, parking restrictions around the Oval and intermittent  rain shows their resilience and loyalty to the regional Test Team despite the disappointment of losing the three matches.

President of the T&TCB Azim Bassarath commended fans for their unqualified support shown by snapping up all available tickets offered for the three matches and turning up in appreciable numbers despite the fact that the homesters were always fighting an uphill battle.

“Fans were also subjected to traffic delays because of  highway repair work and there was also the uncertainty of parking on the streets around the Oval for fear of being towed away by the Police wrecker. But everyone took the situation in stride to ensure an incident-free event and an become an example to the entire region,” said Bassarath.

The local cricket chief also shone the spotlight on the National Carnival Commission  (NCC) and the Public Transport Service Commission (PTSC) for coming to the assistance of fans by allowing parking in front of the grandstand on the Queen’s Park Savannah and for arranging a shuttle service to and from the Oval.

Bassarath said he was also pleased with the performance of members of the International Games Committee headed by chairman Patrick Rampersad with assistance from Ann Browne-John and Stephen Martel.

“There are scores of other persons including volunteers who all contributed to making a success of this important part of the eagerly anticipated West Indies and India Digicel Pearls Tour and their contribution and service has been recognized by the T&T Cricket Board,” Bassarath said.