Foreign cricketers want too much $$

Foreign cricketers are demanding too much money from clubs in Trinidad and Tobago and now some clubs are thinking of going without them.

This is the view of director of SIS Central Sports, Vonney Roberts. According to the Central resident: “Foreign cricketers are demanding too much money these days and clubs are really being stretched financially.” Roberts, who has brought in the likes of Junior Murray, Rawl Lewis, Lennox Cush, Gary Mathurin and Mahendra Nagamootoo in the past to play at Central Sports, believes that much more must be done to develop young cricketers in this country to fill the void.

“These days when finance is a problem, we have guys demanding plenty money for their services. To bring in a foreign player for the season will cost a club around $40,000 comfortably.

“You have to take care of their accommodation, pay their travelling to and from the ground, give them an allowance for food, as well as laundry. “Added to this of course we have to pay their salaries and then factor in airline tickets because you don’t only have to pay to bring in a player and send him back at the end of the season but also to send them home in between to be with their families.”

Roberts said if a club brings in two foreign players, they normally would absorb about 60 per cent of a club’s revenue.

“After this chunk of money is gone, we have to find money to play our local players.”

He admitted that the foreign player adds to the league:“The foreign professional adds to the league, in that they take it up a standard and this is good for the local boys who are playing with them.

However, it is becoming too expensive to bring in players and the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) must look to take the league and make it professional.

“We must now look at getting gate receipts and bigger sponsorship, so we can cater to the players’ needs.” Recently, another top local club PowerGen decided that they were going total local and not bringing in any foreign players to take part in the league. This past season, they won the Eastern Credit Union Premiership title with no foreign players onboard and they are going to do likewise in 2011. (Trinidad Guardian)