Our plan works says cricket boss

THE VICTORY by  Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday in the final of the President’s Cup regional limited overs competition justifies the investment made by the Cricket Board in their development programme. This is the firm opinion of Alloy Lequay, Chief Executive of the TTCB who yesterday described the historic achievement of the young team led by Daren Ganga as “excellent.” “The championship winning performance of the team demonstrates the value of the cricket development programme in place for the last three years,” said Lequay yesterday in a telephone interview from his office at the TTCB in Balmain Village, Couva.

Regarded as the architect of the local modern day game, Lequay pointed out that seven of the present senior team members are graduates of the Inductees Programme conducted at the Sir Frank Worrell Development Centre at Balmain. “Other than technical training, the players benefit from programmes in the mental aspects of the game, building and maintaining high self-esteem and discipline, and other valuable inputs for performance at the highest level,” said a proud Lequay. He reiterated that the latest success of the cricketers proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Cricket Board’s Development Programme is working.

The TT players broke an eight-year drought of regional cricket championships, when, competing without several of their key players, defied the odds as underdogs to dethrone defending champions Guyana on Sunday in a low-scoring but exciting match. Lequay criticised observers who expect immediate results from the development programme saying that the plan was an ongoing process which needs to be changed and revised ever so often to gain the desired results. “It takes years to see the fruits of the efforts being made to build the players in winning outfits. We can’t win a championship every year because almost every year players change at the age group level but the development must be ongoing and with tolerance and necessary changes and revision, the best results will be achieved,” said Lequay.

Exception to that rule was the hat-trick of victories by the Trinidad and Tobago Under-15s in the West Indies tournament. “I am satisfied that the plan we have in is in place but could be strenghtened,” he added. Lequay said he was particularly impressed with the mental strength displayed by the players, some of whom were playing in the First Class competition for the first time, rallying back from seemingly hopeless situations to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Lequay praised the involvement of British Gas in a mental development exercise designed to lift team unity, commitment and focus which the present team has managed to successfully put into practice.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Cricket Board also highlighted the significance of the leadership training programme that has so far produced four captains of regional teams, an  unprecedented achievement. “We have Brian Lara as the senior West Indies captain; Daren Ganga is the ‘A’ team skipper; Dinesh Ramdin leads the Under-19s and Tishan Maharaj heads the Under-15s,” said Lequay. The top Cricket Board official also mentioned the invaluable work of manager Omar Khan, coach David Williams and trainer Gerard Garcia for bringing out the best in the players during the three-week championship. He said that the team will be honoured by Angostura later this month when awards from the company’s incentive programme will be handed out. “There will be a special function to properly pay homage to the team and distribute the awards which Angostura will be giving out for the final time since the five-year incentive scheme ended this year,” said Lequay.