THE TRINIDAD and Tobago Cricket Board has categorically denied that the West Indies Cricket Board has held any meaningful discussions with them concerning the hosting of a town-hall meeting of local stakeholders.
This response from the TTCB contradicts a media release by the WICB on August 22 which alleges that “efforts to host a meeting in T&T could not be finalised as far back as June 2015 when the president’s office made contact.â€
The WICB was responding to comments last week made by third vice-president of the TTCB Patrick Rampersad who chided the WICB and its president Wycliffe “Dave†Cameron for bypassing TT in their planned series of meetings which have already been held in St Lucia, Dominica, Guyana and Jamaica.
In their latest media release the WICB stated that their next town-hall meeting will be staged in Antigua “on a date to be announced†but again no mention was made of the TT leg, which has raised serious concerns about the level of respect and courtesy being afforded the local cricket organisation.
Rampersad, president of the Merry Boys Cricket Club, which campaigns in the Premier Division, had speculated on the reason why TT was being ignored and noted that the local cricket organisation had backed the challengers to Cameron of Jamaica and Nanthan of Dominica, in WICB elections held earlier this year.
Of the six regional affiliates of the WICB, only Barbados and TT supported the candidacy of former WI fast bowler Joel “Big Bird†Garner, head of the BCA, and TTCB executive member Baldath Mahabir for the top posts.
Rampersad also refuted a claim by the WICB, that a letter dated June 22 from General Secretary of the TTCB, Arjoon Ramlal, “outlines an inability for the TT affiliates to agree to a location to the benefit of what the town hall meeting was to achieve.â€
In fact, the TTCB letter clearly makes a clear and cogent case for staging the all-important stakeholder’s meeting at a geographically central location which can readily attract the widest public participation from the nation’s major cricket support-base in east, central and south Trinidad.
“It poses a stressful traffic nightmare to get into and out of Port-of-Spain and poses difficulties for adequate parking, particularly in the afternoon. In such a physical and cultural environment, curtained views are likely to be expressed not necessarily representative of a cross-section of national views drawn from the wider cricket diaspora,†Ramlal wrote to Cameron.
Cameron was told that it was “anachronistic that the historical struggle to shift the balance at administrative and decision-making power from this enclave was likely to suffer a major setback by a return to a myopic and mono-cultural base.â€
“The main objective of your consultation, we are certain, is to attract participation from the widest cross-section of our multi-racially blessed, ethnically mixed, culturally rich and socially diverse population. By hosting such a landmark event in Port-of-Spain will clearly not achieve this polycentric objective,†the WICB was told.
It was suggested in no uncertain terms that the town hall meeting be staged at the spacious TTCB owned administrative centre in Balmain, Couva, or alternatively the modern 220-seat auditorium of the Chaguanas Borough Corporation (CBC) at Chaguanas.
â€Any of these venues will draw much wider participation from our rich mix of cricket lovers,†the governing organisation’s general secretary informed Cameron, while giving the assurance that suitable arrangements will be made to host the widely anticipated town-hall meeting by the TTCB should the recommendation be accepted by Cameron.
The point was also made that the cricket board is the organisation responsible for the administration of the sport in TT and their elected officers are guided by the national interest and not by the motives of one particular group or club.
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