The following letter by A. Samaroo was taken from the Trinidad Express Letters on 13/05/2014 T&T SHOULD BOYCOTT UNFAIR CPL By A. Samaroo A couple years ago Trinidad and Tobago had won the Caribbean T20 tournament and had assured themselves a place in the Airtel Champions League. Each time T&T has represented one of our local stars has been snapped up . From Dwayne Bravo to Pollard to Narine to Cooper, T&T has produced some of the finest cricketers in the T20 arena. Not to mention that it comes with a hefty financial payout as well to the TTCB as T&T teams have always done well in the competition. Then we look at Guyana. That’s the only team bar Trinidad and Tobago to have a sniff, well you could hardly call it a sniff because the Guyana team didn’t even pick up a point. Its obvious that T&T alone cannot be allowed all this money from the Airtel League because it would be unfair right? As such, to stop the domination of T&T they had to mash up our beloved Red Force and the CPL was formed. If we look back our own Prince of Port of Spain was forced to retire after bein given a torrid time by the WICB. Brian Lara was made to look like the enemy when he protested the WICB’s mediocre salaries. When the issue was resolved, the WICB removed him from the captaincy. You would also remember when the WICB was run by the Jamaicans and there were Powell, Gayle, Hinds and Samuels etc. on the WI team. Again because of politics Jamaicans ran the WICB so Jamaicans comprised most of the team. We saw that with the appointment of Darren Sammy, who did not command a place on the Test or ODI squads, yet was given the captaincy, all because a man from the smaller islands managed the WICB. Our best players like Pollard and Narine are forced to play for Barbados and Guyana and even Denish Ramdin was not allowed to play for T&T. They took Simmons Gabriel, Emrit, Perkins and Dave Mohammed and added them to Caribbean teams while T&T got Delorn Johnson, Suleiman Benn and Fidel Edwards, players who have not seen West Indies colours for eons. International stars such as Saeed Ajmal, Shakib al Hassan and Kevin Pieterson are available, yet we get players from Ireland and New Zealand,the only nations ranked below WI. There was even a strong rumor that the teams knew which players they were getting beforehand and the draft was just a farce. The main sponsors of the “Limacol” CPL, happens to be from Guyana. What a coincidence that the sponsor of the CPL and the Guyana team comprising of Omar Khan, Corey Anderson , Simmons, Malinga, Santokie, Narine, Hafeez etc. happens to be the best in international and local franchise players. So before you rush off to buy youe CPL tickets, think about if you are going to see a T&T side represent you with the likes of Benn, O’Brien etc. Or would you prefer to see the likes of Pollard , Narine , Bravo, Simmons etc. represent you as nationals of our great nation who we have produced with our investment in cricket , and are now being robbed of them, for them to play for another nation… and beat us too. When T&T Red Steel loses, our international reputation takes a hit. Boycott matches in Trinidad and Tobago, voice your displeasure at T&T’S treatment and DEMAND our local board and Minister of Sport take action to ensure that the best team represents us on the regional and international level. T&T has one of the largest facilities around. If we as nationals come together and boycott this CPL, their accounts will take a serious hit. I wonder if Jamaica would lend T&T Usain Bolt to race for us in the Olympics and let him don T&T colours. Think about it!!!!!
Posted on: Sat, 17 May 2014 15:12:41 +0000
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