Another regional cricket season is upon us and fans are looking forward to the Red Force making a bold and successful claim to the four-day crown which has eluded us.Our team comprises proven match winners and we have already started the new season by claiming a hat-trick of Caribbean T20 tournament titles.This has been attributed to the good work of the national selectors, the full support of the T&T Cricket Board and the astute leadership of captain Denesh Ramdin and manager Omar Khan.
T&T cricketers deserve the backing of the entire nation in their quest and should not be distracted by off-the-field issues that have so often bedevilled regional campaigns.I refer specifically to Minister of Sports Anil Roberts who must restrain his misdirected enthusiasm to browbeat the T&TCB when his ill-conceived plans go wrong.
Though he pretends otherwise, Roberts knows fully well that the consistent success of T&T cricket has not come out of a magician's hat but by the hard work and visionary leadership of the T&TCB.Despite being deprived of substantial funding, the T&TCB has been able to present and execute its programmes.
Roberts' must realise that bashing the T&TCB will not earn him any points since the cricketing public is well-informed and have the organisation's track record of success to refer to in any debate that involves the competence of the present administrators.Former national captain, Daren Ganga, and ex-president of the West Indies Players' Association, Dinanath Ramnarine, must also get behind the T&TCB and the national team and not create unnecessary diversions.
They have served national and regional cricket well and the public would hate to have them remembered as ambitious young men who ruthlessly strove to realise their dreams but undermined the national effort in the process.
Ramdeo Harripersad
Caroni Village