(Trinidad Guardian) A proposal currently before Cabinet for the allocation of more than US$7 million towards the staging of the semifinals and final of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 for two years has been greeted with amazement by officials of the T&T Cricket Board (T&TCB).
It is understood that the proposal, which has been making the rounds on social media, will cover six matches in the upcoming 2015 and 2016 regional competition, and is being submitted by Minister of National Security Gary Griffith and not the Ministry of Sports, which is headed by Dr Rupert Griffith.
But the T&TCB officials are shocked about the development, saying the returns are questionable on a project which hands over more than TT $42 million to a private foreign entity to stage only six matches in T&T over two years.
They also point out that the development programmes of the TTCB, from the primary school level to the national team, has been stymied over the past four years because of a lack of state assistance.
Contacted on Tuesday, Azim Bassarath, president of the T&TCB, said that it was the first time he was hearing of the proposal to grant the extravagant sum to the CPL. “Hosting six matches for TT $42 million does not make any sense to us when we feel that the funds are desperately needed elsewhere, for instance to pay the debt owed to the T&T Cricket Board amounting close to TT $24 million which has accumulated over the past four years,” said Bassarath.
The amount represents funds allocated by Government for the preparation of the T&T national cricket team, the Red Force, for their participation in three editions of the prestigious Champions League T20 which is usually staged annually in India.
Apart from settling the outstanding debt to the TTCB, it was also felt that funds destined for the CPL could be better utilised in the development of the National Cricket Centre at Balmain, Couva up to international level.
The T&TCB had also made a pitch to have Government hand over the controversial incomplete Brian Lara Stadium at Tarouba which seven years after it was scheduled to be opened has cost more than one billion dollars and stands at the mercy of the elements.
