Having read your Fearless in The Box "left all gasping for more"on pg A51 of the Trinidad Guardian, on June 8, it really makes me wonder why some writers do not just write the facts. Is it that you're trying to promote someone or a cause, or just plain not knowing all the facts? I want to believe in your case it is the latter. Firstly, this version of the T20 Festival, an idea conceived in 2009, was started in 2010, when from the second round, 16 teams contested the T20 finals at the Queens Park Oval (St Clair). These 16 teams qualified from round-robin groups in their respective zones. The crowds throughout the games were quite good with the final between Powergen and Comets, a south and central team being extremely well attended with the entire Carib Beer stand sold out and the spillover placed into the Trini Posse stand. You would not have known this because you never attended a single match and reading your article it appeared you did not even know about this tournament.
Last year's tournament had all the usual West Indian players representing their local clubs. Some of these players included Deighton Butler, Kenroy Peters, Runako Morton, Esau Crandon, Royston Crandon, Carlos Brathwaite, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Alcindo Holder, Jervon Searles just to name a few. The prize money was increased this year by $50,000 ; a great incentive. Well done to our state-owned companies for coming forward and supporting sport in the country. Kudos to NLCB (National Lottery Control Board) and NGC (National Gas Company). In 2010, just as in this edition, there were lots of "hard luck" stories. Aranguez, which narrowly lost to Comets in the second round and Moosai Sports which were defeated in a last ball thriller by the eventual semi-finalists, Queen's Park. There were many more hard luck stories and I suppose the surprise team was Comets which were certainly not playing well in the early stages but came good when it actually mattered beating Queen's Park when Reyad Emrit struck Amit Jaggernauth's final delivery of the 20th over for six for his team to proceed into the final. You should have been there Andre, you would have enjoyed it.
Unfortunately, WI Sport (Channel 14) could not have done the matches live so they went for delayed coverage. I'm sure you would join me in congratulating Peter C Lewis and his technical team for his excellent live coverage on this year's tournament. I know he received a lot of feedback and hopefully he will fix what was wrong this year and improve on it next year. Preysal, with a lot of youngsters , did not perform as well as expected but it was great to see Kjorn Ottley coming through this year and scoring heavily. I hope that Preysal can sign one or two seasoned professionals to help them mount a meaningful challenge next year. Queen's Park won the tournament in a canter just as Powergen did in 2010 and it was a pity that the final was not as competitive as we would have liked. So Andre, the template was put in place long before 2011. My one disappointment which the TTCB officials have not made public but I'm sure you may know the answer, is why was the tournament moved from the Oval?
I have always emphasized and I'm sure you will agree with me that if the best venue is available then the matches should be played there. The Oval is the Mecca for cricket in this country and our youngsters must be given the opportunity to play there as often as possible. Not only to come to terms with the conditions but also to get a 'feel' of the atmosphere for big tournaments. Could you imagine the T20 Caribbean tournament being played at Guaracara Park? I myself absolutely love Guaracara and the atmosphere that is totally unique but while accepting that there are occasions in which cricket should be played at Guaracara, UWI (University of West Indies) and the NCC (National Cricket Centre), we should not lose sight of the fact that internal big tournaments should be played at the Test ground. Certainly the tournament went well just as it did in previous years except that I was told by a couple of the teams that they were initially handed one set of fixtures but another fixture list surfaced later on. Maybe that was a computer glitch at least thankfully the tournament did not end up in court. Fear not the fearless one, T20 cricket is here to stay and I'm glad you were able to attend this year.
