Covid-19 may have hampered cricket in Trinidad and Tobago for nearly two years, but it hasn’t stopped the Red Cricket players from shining on the world stage.
While no domestic cricket has been played since March 2020, T&T players continued to be in high demand at all levels of West Indies cricket in 2021 with five players making their international debuts in the last 13 months and the Board of Trinidad and Tobago Cricket (TTCB President) Azim Bassarath believes those players will make an impact with the regional team for years to come.
Debutants from Trinidad include left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, right-arm fast bowlers Jayden Seales and Anderson Phillip, opening batsman Jeremy Solozano and wicketkeeper/batsman Joshua Da Silva.
The 23-year-old Da Silva took the ball for the T&T men by earning a Test cap against New Zealand in December 2021 and making his ODI debut in Bangladesh in January this year.
Hosein, 28, got his chance in the ODI team on the tour of Bangladesh before earning a place in the T20 team in July and eventually playing in the T20 World Cup. Then came 25-year-old Phillip, who made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in March before Seales burst onto the scene in his Test debut as a 19-year-old against South Africa in June.
The 26-year-old Solozano was the latest of the T&T players to earn a senior West Indies call-up, picking up a Test cap last month against Sri Lanka. Added to that group are West Indies regulars who include Shannon Gabriel, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis and Nicholas Pooran.
Jason Mohammed and Ravi Rampaul were also called up by the West Indies this year, with the latter called up to the T20 squad for the World Cup and Mohammed captaining the white-ball team in Bangladesh earlier in the year. Kjorn Ottley also got a nod in the ODI squad for the Bangladesh tour in the absence of some of the senior West Indies players.
So 15 T&T players answered the call to serve West Indies cricket during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. “It was quite pleasing to see a lot of Trinidad and Tobago players getting selected in the West Indies teams throughout the year and these players would have been in the T&T squad for a while,” said Bassarath.
Of the players who made their debuts, the TTCB chief added: “They got a chance to address the selectors (through best v best games) and I think they will make a big contribution to West Indies cricket in the future.
“They are very focused on what they want to do and I want to take this opportunity to congratulate those who would have made their debuts in various formats of the game and I am very sure that they will go on to represent the Reds, Black and White and makes us proud on the international stage.”
Bassarath noted that one of the TTCB’s goals is to discover and nurture players who can go on to play for the West Indies and make an impact on the international stage, and he noted that the end product represents a welcome return on the TTCB’s investment. over years.
“Players like (Nicholas) Pooran or (Kirstan) Kallicharan would have gone from the U-13 level to the senior team. All the players now playing for T&T and for the West Indies would have come through our age group system, so I think we would have reaped the rewards for those investments,” Bassarath said.
“It’s always very pleasing to know that we would have had these players take part in our youth tournaments and that our program is working and I believe we have reaped dividends from that investment and it will continue to pay off as we look forward to bigger things. big from these younger players who are now entering the top national level”, he concluded.
