(Trinidad Express) The Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) has approached the Ministry of Sport for funding to facilitate the preparation of the men’s senior team for the 2012 regional season, which gets underway in early January with the Caribbean Twenty20.
The newly re-elected TTCB executive made it clear that reclaiming of the regional four-day title is high on their agenda for next season and they have also drawn up a comprehensive training and competition schedule to ensure success.
The cost of the proposal is in the region of TT$700,755, which covers all aspects of the team’s preparation, including the quadrangular T20 festival after the Christmas holidays involving guest team Guyana, T&T senior men’s team, the T&T “A” team and the T&T Under-23 Cricket Academy.
TTCB president Azim Bassarath thinks 2012 will be the year when T&T can finally capture the regional four-day championship and was optimistic that the national cricketers will get the support of the Ministry of Sport as they press forward to give the “Red Force” the best opportunity to retain their Caribbean T20 crown.
He said it is important for the team to get the financial backing that it needs as the TTCB intends to work closely with the Ministry of Sports in providing the best platform to launch the 2012 campaign for regional cricket supremacy in all forms of the game.
T&T are the defending Caribbean T20 champions and will be hosting the preliminary rounds of the Caribbean T20, which will be staged at the Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, after which the teams will travel to Barbados for the final group matches as well as the semi-finals and final.
The Caribbean T20 will be staged from January 9-22, while the four-day championship, which has eluded T&T since 2006, is scheduled for February 3 to April 10.
The TTCB, in the lead-up to the Caribbean T20, has planned a series of trial matches at home, between November 12 and December 19, and will also have a quadrangular tournament after Christmas on December 28, 29 and 30 at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre.
The final team preparation for the Caribbean T20 is scheduled to take place between January 2-6.
