TTCB boss worried about four-day struggles

TTCB boss worried about four-day struggles
By JOEL BAILEY Wednesday, February 17 2016



AZIM BASSARATH, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB), is concerned by the struggles of the TT Red Force team in the 2015-2016 Professional Cricket League (Regional Four Day competition).

The Red Force were beaten by the Guyana Jaguars on Monday by 105 runs in their Sixth Round contest at the Providence Stadium, Guyana.

Currently the Red Force are fourth on the six-team standings with 40 points with just one win, three defeats and two draws.

They are ahead of the Windward Islands Volcanoes (32) and the Leeward Islands Hurricanes (28).

The Jaguars are the runaway leaders with 101 points, followed by the Barbados Pride (82) and the Jamaica Scorpions (56).

According to Bassarath, “that has been a perennial problem in Trinidad and Tobago cricket, where we have not done well in the longer version of the game.

“And it not a new problem,” he continued. “It’s a problem since (time) immemorial. We have to work together with the players.” Bassarath wondered if the players may be struggling to adapt to the longer format of the game, having been successful in the 50-over and, previously, the T20 versions (before the inception of the Caribbean Premier League).

“We have to find out what is needed really to get them to focus more,” said the TT CB president.

“Maybe it is a mental problem.

I think we’ll have to work with the players to ensure that we address just that.

“The shorter formats of the game, we have been dominating since (the T20 format) has been introduced in the Caribbean. We don’t know why in the Four Day game we have not been able to dominate.

But we have to continue to work with the players, with the management of the team to ensure that something is put in place, to ensure that we move forward.

“With the problem that we’re presently experiencing, we’ll try to alleviate that,” he ended.