Khan: T&T team totally committed
Mark Pouchet
Saturday, May 12th 2007
The Trinidad and Tobago national senior cricket team received $650,000 for training and development towards their preparation to defend their regional titles in the 2008 season.
The T&T squad claimed the KFC One Day title and the Carib Challenge Shield while grabbing second spot in the Carib Cup competition during this year's regional season which concluded just prior to the commencement of the ICC Cricket World Cup here in the Caribbean.
Yesterday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, the squad-minus West Indies players, T&T skipper Daren Ganga, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin and Ravi Rampaul-was hailed as a great example for the West Indies team to follow and they were honoured for their achievements.
Team manager Omar Khan said their success was owed to "stringent factors" put in place by the management and the governing body for the sport locally, the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (T&TCB).
"In the last two to three years the T&TCB has provided programmes to develop players not only in their technical skills but also in their personal development," Khan stated, "and they have led to this team's discipline and response to be totally committed to the cause of representing Trinidad and Tobago proudly."
Khan said he emphasised the relationship between effort and reward with his charges, noting "the bigger the effort, the bigger the rewards", a key principle that saw the T&T squad proceed to register a regional record of 11 consecutive wins-their last four Carib Cup four-day games followed by the seven KFC one-day matches.
He also said the West Indies team could learn a lesson from the approach of the T&T regional squad.
T&TCB president Deryck Murray echoed those sentiments.
Murray recognised the huge gap between the West Indies and the world's top teams like Australia and Sri Lanka and advised that the T&T cricketers, by their demonstration of professionalism and discipline, would not sit on their laurels.
Also at the function to honour the team was West Indies Players Association (WIPA) president Dinanath Ramnarine, who told the players they should be proud of the regional success they achieved in one year, a feat that evaded him as a player in ten years of national team representation.
Ramnarine, deputising for retired Windies skipper Brian Lara who was said to be unable to attend, stated the national squad's success was a result of a combined effort by the T&TCB, the management and the players.
In his turn, Sport Minister Roger Boynes commended the role of the T&TCB for their adhesion to proper accounting principles in the disbursement of funds and their clear development plan.
Boynes said the Government had allocated just over $3 million to the Cricket Board during the financial year 2005-2006, a figure that included $540,000 for the STAR programme that targeted form one students.
He added that the Government had also partnered with the Board to fund the eight high performance centres (seven in Trinidad and one in Tobago); specialist batting and bowling clinics for under-15 players all the way up to under-19s; financial assistance to the six zonal councils; 12 bowling machines; the primary/secondary schools associations; zonal cricket competitions; and $500,000 for the senior team's development last year.
Boynes reported he had recently received confirmation from the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment about approval being granted for the installation of floodlights at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva.
