(Trinidad Guardian) Minister of Sport Anil Roberts said on Wednesday he has begun the process of negotiating with top local cricketers Keiron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine, in an effort to get them to play for T&T at the upcoming Champions league in South Africa. With T&T due to participate in the qualifying stages of the Champions league tournament, the local cricket boss is hoping that the trio would be available for this country, instead of their Indian Premier League clubs who have qualified for the main draw. Roberts said yesterday : “I have already met with the representatives for Keiron Pollard and Sunil Narine. The representatives for Pollard are representing Dwayne Bravo as well, so effectively I have met with representatives off all the players. “I have already told them and the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) that they must inform the players’ franchise clubs that their country is desirous of them representing it at the Champions league, so it will not come as a shock to them.
“We have done this because we don’t want to jeopardize the players chances of representing their clubs in the future. Any player who is being paid to play for his club and does not want to play for his country cannot be considered unpatriotic. As a matter of fact any citizen that has to put his or her living in jeopardy to represent the country for nothing, cannot be expected to throw away their financial well being. “However, having said that we want our players to represent us and hence we will go further than having to buy out 20 percent of their contract. We are looking at putting incentives in place for them, to make them comfortable. The guys have expressed an interest in representing T&T and we are going to leave no stone un-turned in trying to get them to play for the red, white and black.
