Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) President Azim Bassarath was delighted with the way the 2022 domestic cricket season came together after two years on the sidelines during the Covid-19 pandemic and said 2023 will be even bigger. with the return of red ball cricket. .
Twenty-twenty-two, which he said was a “season of transition”, playing only limited-overs cricket. However, Bassarath said it was a “bumper” season for youth cricket which he said will continue into 2023.
“Due to time constraints, we didn’t have enough time to play red-ball cricket and all the clubs had previously agreed that the first post-Covid season would be a transition period and we would only play red-ball cricket. the white ball and therefore the reason. we played one round of the 50-overs tournament and the T20 tournament,” explained Bassarath.
“Next year we will be back to red ball cricket and the longer version of the game and all the other tournaments will be back for next season,” he revealed.
Speaking about the 2022 domestic season, the TTCB boss said: “We were very pleased with all the tournaments that were played. You could tell we had a number of youth tournaments and some innovative ideas came out.”
He continued: “We selected the best players and had tournaments with four U-16 and U-19 teams, which were well organized and well received by the players and parents. We think that went pretty well and we think it will fast track those U-19 and U-16 players into the higher age group tournaments.
“For a long time now we haven’t had an U-19 or U-21 player come forward and step up to make their senior debut. We feel that these four-team tournaments would help to accelerate the players towards playing first-class cricket and possibly moving on to international cricket,” he added.
Bassarath also noted that having sponsors for all of their tournaments also played a role in the season’s success. “We were very happy to have sponsors for all our InterZone youth tournaments. I want to express my gratitude to all the sponsors who would have come on board and supported us, including Scotiabank, Price Club Supermarket and Tiger Tanks Trinidad Unlimited,” said Bassarath.
“Price Club sponsored all the North/South age group classics and they were all well organized and much appreciated by all involved. All in all we think we have had a very good season for junior cricket. It was a strong year of youth cricket and never before have we seen so many youth cricket tournaments played in such a short space of time.
“We look forward to continuing in this direction and hope that more sponsors will come. The U-16 and U-19 were sponsored by the Prime Minister’s Sports and Culture Fund and we want to thank the governing board for trusting us and sponsoring these tournaments,” he continued.
Asked about the Red Force team’s performance in the second half of the first-class season and the lack of domestic red-ball cricket, Bassarath said: “I don’t think the lack of red-ball cricket this season played a role. in the performance of the Red Forces. We won the first two matches of the season and we haven’t had red-ball cricket since 2020. We don’t want people to think that because we didn’t play red-ball cricket, the team performed poorly,” he noted. .
“The coach, the manager and some of the players said they were badly beaten. The bowling was at par and the batting was not up to par. They admitted that they did not put their heads down and tried to beat long and build ranks. I don’t think not playing red-ball club cricket affected the Red Force team’s performances because without any red-ball cricket for two years, we won the first two matches eventually,” concluded Bassarath.
