The National Under-15 cricket team followed the success of the U-17 team by winning the title in the West Indies Cricket Board U-15 Regional competition on Friday in Jamaica, and the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) executive member Baldath Mahabir is excited about what the future has in store."I am nothing less than ecstatic about what I have seen."Mahabir said on the performance of the U-17 team that won the WICB 50-over tournament in Tobago earlier this month and the success of the U-15 team. Both the U-15 and U-17 teams won four of their five matches in the round robin tournaments.
Mahabir stated that credit must be given to the TTCB."The TTCB has been successful from an administrative point of view, it is a big win for the TTCB."The executive member of the TTCB, also said playing cricket is not only about someone's achievements on the field."If you win its a bonus, but producing good citizens is more important."Mahabir also mentioned we are not only producing good cricketers at youth level, but world cricketers such as Kieron Pollard.Mahabir gave Queen's Park Cricket Club (QPCC) as an example of a club that has been producing a lot of talented young cricketers. QPCC, who Pollard plays for, has many players on the current youth teams."Queen's Park has been doing well." he stated.
The national U-19 team, which is currently competing in the WICB U-19 tournament in St Kitts, has four QPCC members on the 14-man squad. Tion Webster, Camillo Carimbocas, Jesse Bootan and Jeremy Solozano, who made his debut for the senior team at age 17 earlier this year, are all part of the team.Kirstan Kallicharan, who is the captain of the U-15 team, also plays for QPCC.
Mahabir is also thankful to the sponsors of T&T cricket and West Indies cricket."We have to give tribute to British Gas and Powergen, we are happy as the recipient of the help."
Powergen is the sponsor of the Secondary Schools Cricket League (SSCL) and British Gas sponsors the Interzone cricket competitions that follows the SSCL.He also gave tribute to Scotiabank, which has been involved in West Indies youth cricket for many years, through the Kiddy Cricket program. The Kiddy Cricket program was introduced to T&T in 2000.The U-19 team will be aiming to follow their younger counterparts and make it a hat-trick of youth cricket titles when the U-19 tournament concludes in August.