(Trinidad Express) HOSTING seven matches in the upcoming Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 will bring no tangible benefit to the local game and the US$4.2m given to the foreign owners of the regional competition could be better spent on supporting home grown talent.
This according to Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board’s (TTCB) Azim Bassarath. The CPL recently launched the 2015 edition of the tournament in Port of Spain, but according to a TTCB release on Saturday, “pointedly left out the local board.”
“It was yet another demonstration of the lack of respect that the CPL has for regional cricket boards who are responsible for the growth and development of the local game yet are locked out of all that they have to offer,’ said Bassarath.
He said it was a slap in the face of the local game and its administrators for taxpayers’ money to be funnelled to foreign investors who he said were “exploiting the skills and talent of a legion of local cricketers nurtured and cultivated by the TTCB.”
Bassarath said that he remembered clearly at the launch of the CPL that the investors publicly stated that they would not be approaching regional governments for funding to stage their competition.
“It was stated then that their sponsors for the six teams will come from India and we were all persuaded that this would be the case, which has not turned out to be not true at all. Regional cricket boards are the ones being done a great disservice,” said Bassarath.
Additionally, Bassarath said again that over the past four years, the TTCB had been facing an uphill battle to access funds earmarked by the Government for cricket development and assistance of the national senior team.
However, he said in the release that the TTCB’s recent meeting with new Minister of Sport Brent Sancho left him pleased with the way the discussions went.
