(Trinidad Express) The Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) has issued a cautious reminder to national cricketers to be mindful of the rules and regulations governing their participation in unauthorised competitions.
This comes on the heels of interest shown by teams as far away as Sri Lanka who are now considering having several T&T cricketers play in their domestic Twenty20 competitions following the national team’s performances in the Champions League T20 in India last month.
The TTCB, in a media release yesterday, said it was fully supportive of the players’ right to ply their trade, but urged the cricketers to be guided by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) regulations concerning participation in unauthorised competitions organised by private organisations.
The release said: “The lure for cricketers who are enticed to participate in hastily-arranged but lucrative T20 tournaments was highlighted last year when a team comprising several top T&T cricketers was prohibited from competing in a private tournament in Florida, USA.”
The TTCB also stressed that permission must be first received by the WICB before any cricket tournament is staged in the region and failure to do so will result in severe penalties on the territorial board, the cricketers and the promoters/organisers.
The release continued: “According to the WICB’s policy, ‘Responsibility and Approval for Cricket in the West Indies,’ the minimum penalties for staging an unauthorised competition range from disqualification of the territorial board from staging international matches for two years to the banning of individual cricketers who participate from official matches and events for one year.
“Also the promoters and/or organisers of such unapproved competitions could be disqualified from hosting similar events for a period of up to three years.”
Allen Sammy, executive member of the TTCB and a director of the WICB, said that cricketers who do not observe the established rules and regulations risk running afoul of the WICB and the International Cricket Council (ICC).
He said the TTCB is responsible for all domestic cricket and the territorial board must ensure that approval is sought from the West Indies Cricket Board for any competition played in its jurisdiction.
