TCL cast U-19 cricket deal

THE WEST Indies Cricket Board have landed a $3 million three-year sponsorship for their Under-19 regional tournament it was  announced yesterday. Deprived of a corporate benefactor for the past three years, the 2003 tournament, expected to be staged in Guyana in August, will now be called the TCL Group West Indies Under-19 Challenge. Details of the deal were made public yesterday at a media conference hosted by the WICB at the Hilton Trinidad in Port-of-Spain when reporters were addressed by president of the WICB Rev Wes Hall; Dr Rollin Bertrand, Chief Executive Officer of the TCL Group; Alan Nobie, TCL’s Manager, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications; and Roger Brathwaite, CEO of the WICB.

Dr Bertrand said although the TCL Group’s primary focus is the support of the Under-19 cricketers, the initiative goes beyond the boundary. “Cricket is perhaps the most unassailable of this region’s ongoing attempts at unification. Our commitment hopes to supply the missing link between primary school performance and the often pilloried adult version,” Dr Bertrand said. He said the effort will also seek to hone raw young talent into a dependable resource base from which superior adult teams may be subsequently drawn. Dr Bertrand said one of the areas of concern is the critical issue of succession planning. “Continuity, re-instilling confidence, building up a ready pool of heirs to reclaim our place of prominence at the crease tomorrow is of paramount importance,” he said.

He observed that gone are the days of native talent rising to the top by sheer determination. “Technical assistance has become par for every course and those who can afford it are rewarded with dominance,” Dr Bertrand said. He revealed the TCL Group have identified cricket as the main thrust of their broad social responsibility for this year and beyond. Dr Bertrand said Under-19 cricket has been added to the group’s portfolio that already includes the support of Music Festival champions TCL Skiffle Bunch Steel Orchestra and bursaries for top students tenable at the University of the West Indies. “We hope sincerely that the predictably positive outcomes from this relationship between TCL Group and the West Indies Cricket Board will inspire our youth and draw them away from the ever-present lure of anti-social distractions,” said Dr Bertrand.

In his turn at the crease, Rev Hall, a former tear-away fast bowler with the great West Indies team of the 60s welcomed the support of the TCL Group and said the young players will become great ambassadors of the Claxton Bay, Trinidad-based company with operations in Barbados, Jamaica and Anguilla. The Christian pastor said it was especially important that the Under-19s are given the opportunity to develop, afforded by the TCL Group sponsorship, since they were at a critical phase where the quantum leap is made into First Class and Test cricket. He held up the great strides made by Jamaicans Carlton Baugh and Dave Bernard Jnr who were unheard off two seasons ago but now are on the West Indies senior team. Both players were also present at the function yesterday.

Rev Hall said it was the WICB policy to concentrate on young players as evidenced by the fact that the present  regional Test and One-Day International team is comprised by players whose average age is 24. He said the Under-19 players will be taught that cricket is also a mind game and will be given the strategies to deal with the pressures of every situation on the field whether batting, bowling or fielding. “The West Indies is never short on talent. What we are emphasising now is the development of a good work ethic and an improvement in our disclipine,” said Rev Hall. Also present yesterday was Dinanath Ramnarine, the Trinidad and Tobago leg-spinner who is the  president of the West Indies Players’ Association.