PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Daren Ganga has wants officials in Trinidad & Tobago and the rest of the Caribbean to take the game to another level, or run the risk of being irrelevant.
Delivering the feature address at the Clarke’s Road awards ceremony on Saturday, the T&T captain felt it was important for officials both in the two-island republic and the Caribbean to professionalise the game.
“I know that there is a new board [in T&T], and they are still settling down, but I would like to make a call to [for them] to assist local clubs and help them to become more professional,” he said.
“When clubs operate in an amateurish manner, the players cannot advance quickly. It was mentioned that Adrian Barath played for this club at age 14. Maybe, he would have been able to do it earlier if the circumstances were different.”
He added: “Sometimes players have problems in getting time off for cricket and this affects their game.
“If we have clubs that go the professional way, then players can concentrate on their cricket and they would develop into better players.”
Ganga also made a call to the West Indies Cricket Board to get with the times and take team preparation to a higher level.
“What we have been doing for training and in camps seven years ago, we are still doing today,” he said.
“There has been no change in our approach to preparation and this is keeping us way behind. We are at least 10 years behind in terms of technology and this must change.”
He continued: “I remember when Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, and myself went to Australia as young players on the West Indies team, we felt really bad, when we saw what guys like Michael Clarke and Shane Watson were exposed to.
“The training they were putting down was something we have never done before and we were amazed.
“What was even more amazing was the fact that Watson and Clarke had not even made the Australian national team up until that time.”
Both Watson and Clarke have progressed into the Australian team.