Azim Bassarath, the President of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) has called critics of the sports trojan-horse while addressing the gathering at the launch of the North-South Cricket Classic at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva on Thursday.
The TTCB President lashed out against persons who are vocal against the local governing body. During his remarks, Bassarath said, “We believe armchair critics who do not contribute an atom’s weight of constructive thought and vision to the overall progress of the game do a great disservice by their irrational rants and personal attacks in the public space.”
Bassarath, who took a few moments away from the topic of the North-South Classic, said, “The critics would have you believe that they are successful coaches, analysts, commentators and administrators but are unable to point to success at any level, not counting, of course, their spread of misinformation, mischief, and confusion.”
Without calling any names, Bassarath called out one person in particular, even pointing to the former player’s first-class cricket record during his time as a player. Referring to him as a ‘frenemy’, he said the former player “managed to end his dismal First Class career with a batting average of 10.1 but who now possesses all the answers to the perceived problems affecting local and regional cricket.”
Bassarath defended the TTCB by saying the critics do not see “the recent emergence of Joshua Da Silva, Jayden Seales, and Jeremy Solozano who are all successful products of the TTCB development system.”
Going back to the North-South Classic, Bassarath said, “The special importance to the cricketers in either squad was the opportunity to address the national selectors for the last time on the eve of the inter-territorial tournament.” The TTCB president recalled the players who played in the past editions of the North-South Classic including “world multiple batting record holder Brian Lara, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Mervyn Dillon, Rayad Emrit, Ricardo Powell, Dave “Tadpole” Mohammed, Ravi Rampaul and Amit Jaggernauth.”
South coach Debideen Manick, is hoping his team, led by Imran Khan, who led Red Force last year in the regional tournament will be successful against the North team led by Darren Bravo. He said, “They have home advantage as well”. However, the North coach, Rayad Emrit says he is very confident of victory and the “home advantage doesn’t really matter to us”.
Soca Kings have invested $100,000 into the North-South Cricket match.(Trinidad Guardian)
