CLICO $1M for youth cricket

The sponsorship package will aid in offsetting costs for the regional Under-15 championships, which bowls off next week in Antigua.

Ian Garcia, CLICO’s vice-president of marketing, said his organisation was happy with the youth tournament since it began the sponsorship last year.

CLICO rescued the tournament in 2005, when the WICB could not locate a sponsor.

CLICO and the WICB entered a five-year agreement and Thursday’s contribution was the second of five installments.“We think that after five years we would be seeing the fruits of the development process,” Garcia said. “CLICO is very proud of (Adrian) Barath, who was the first recipient of the CLICO MVP Scholarship worth US$1,500.”

Forbes Persaud, secretary of the TT Cricket Board, who represented the WICB at the ceremony, congratulated CLICO for their investment in the youth and said the TTCB had decided to make a major thrust in the area of youth development. “In May, we are going to take in 128 cricketers under the age of 15 years for a weekend, live-in camp at the NCC,” Persaud said.

“We are going to call this a High Performance Centre and players will be brought in to help with their development.”

CLICO Under-15 regional cricket fixtures—

April 11: TT vs Windwards, Jamaica vs Leewards, Guyana vs Barbados

April 12: TT vs Jamaica, Barbados vs Leewards, Windwards vs Guyana

April 14: TT vs Guyana, Leewards vs Windwards, Barbados vs Jamaica

April 15: TT vs Leewards, Jamaica vs Guyana, Windwards vs Barbados

April 17: TT vs Barbados, Windwards vs Jamaica, Leewards vs Guyana.