Colin Murray slams ‘winning’ cricket clubs

Former Trinidad and Tobago Under-19 cricket captain Colin Murray, now Carib’s Public Relations Manager, has called on cricket clubs to help develop the region’s game and not only focus on winning tournaments and collecting prize money.

“Clubs, it seems these days are only focussed on winning tournaments and are not taking time off to develop their youth players, so that Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies cricket can benefit,” Murray said. “I am not saying that winning is not important but one eye must also be kept on developing the players. The clubs must stand up and be counted and players must be prepared well so that the transition between club and country is not hard,” hw said. “The club representatives need to dig deep and dig within. We have not won a regional cricket title in 18 years and I am not sure when we will win one. I was very happy with our sponsorship of the regional series but particularly devastated that we couldn’t win any of the titles,” Murray said.

Murray made the statements yesterday at a media conference to introduce the teams for the Carib Cup finals on Saturday at Guaracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre from 2.30 pm. Clico Preysal and last year’s runners-up PowerGen Sports Club will bid for honours. PowerGen’s skipper Samuel Badree is confident and warned Preysal that his club will be taking the Carib Sunday League crown. “We at PowerGen have won every major cricket title in Trinidad and Tobago except the Sunday League. Come Saturday we are not going to allow it to elude us,” he said.

Eugene Antoine of Preysal said his players are more about playing and not talking. “We have reached another final and we are going to enjoy ourselves and win the clash. It is as simple as that. On Saturday we are going to Guaracara Park to get the title and we are going to enjoy doing it,” he said. The winners of the final will take away $30,000 and there will also be incentives for the players during the match. The first batsman striking the huge Carib Bottle that will be placed at the Northern boundary will receive $10,000. Representatives off the sponsors, Carib, as well as the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board of Control (TTCBC) will meet the players of both teams before the start. Gates to the venue will be opened at 1 pm and general admission is $20. All children under the age of 12 years will be allowed in free and there will be goodies available for them.