PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago’s cricket chief Azim Bassarath says he is disappointed the country will not host a single Test match next year.
T&T is to stage two One-Day Internationals and a Twenty20 International when Pakistan and India tour the Caribbean in 2011 but have not been chosen as a venue for any of the five Tests.
“We will have three matches between West Indies and India and these matches are sure to be sold out come June next year,” Bassarath said.
“However, I have noticed that there are no Test matches for us in 2011 and this leaves us concerned. I understand that one of the legacies of the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, is that more venues cropped up and the board would like to please everybody.
“However, we in T&T need to have Test matches here so that our young and developing players can get a taste of the best form of the game.”
T&T has been a regular choice for Test cricket in recent years, however, hosting the five-day affairs during major tours.
The Queen’s Park Oval was the venue for the first match of South Africa’s three-Test tour earlier this year, and it also hosted the final Test of the five-match series against England last year.
In 2008, T&T also staged the second game of the two-Test Sri Lanka series.
However, Bassarath said his T&T Cricket Board wanted to attract more cricket to the country and hoped that the completion of the Brian Lara Stadium would leave T&T more strategically positioned to do so.
