For the betterment of cricketers

Sports

Newsday Reporter

22 Hrs Ago

BRYAN DAVIS

I WAS shocked when I read in Newsday on January 11, an objection from newly appointed Clarke Road coach, Dinesh Mahabir, to the Queen’s Park Cricket Club fielding two teams in the TT Cricket Board’s Premiership 1 League.

I was also proud to read the president of the board, Mr Azim Bassarath, defending their decision to allow it with the following observations:

“QPCC has a number of players, maybe the most cricketers in the country, who are aligned or are members of their club. They have developed their players over the years. While they have a team in the top echelon of TT cricket, they had teams playing in the zonal competitions.

“They would have won these zonal competitions coming up and continued winning until two teams ended up in the premiership one division. It is indeed commendable for any club to achieve.”

This last observation is potent to Bassarath’s explanation.

He continued: “It is not forbidden in the constitution of the board or its regulations. That is allowed. Nothing is wrong with that.”

Briefly, about QPCC. It was formed in 1891 by men who were deeply interested in the game of cricket. From its inception, they decided to have three committees, to be voted in annually for the proper function of the club in order to achieve its objective, which was to understand, improve and develop the game of cricket (which was in its infancy at the time) to achieve a level for the enjoyment of its members, both players and non-players.

The three committees are: 1) management; to direct and be responsible for the affairs of the club, 2) cricket; to be responsible for the development, guidance and selection of child and junior cricket members of the club, plus the protection and progress of the game of cricket and 3) ballot; to elect new ordinary members of the club.

Like any other organisation, QPCC would have gone through its bad and good times over the decades.

It has survived criticisms, both fair and unfair. However, it changed with the times and is at present an integral institution in our country.

It has provided cricketers to Trinidad and Tobago and the West Indies since the birth of Caribbean cricket, of which it was and is a part of.

Mahabir suggested that the QPCC 1 and 2 teams should play the first game of every format to prevent the possibility of leaving the door open to collusion, when they play each other.

At QPCC, no cricketing member of my day and I’m sure at present, would even know how to organise and plan a set-up of their fixture.

From generation to generation, QPCC cricketers have been trained in the proper ways of playing the noble game and I am sure it would never enter the mind of a player of this club to participate in fixing matches.

I doubt if any would even know how to approach their club colleagues on that score (no pun intended).

There are two important points to note.

First, any QPCC cricketer who attempts something like this would be immediately expelled. Second, the most competitive QPCC games in a season, when both teams are in the same division, are when they play against each other. Because team 2 wants to prove that they are better than team 1. Also, individuals want to show the club selectors that they were wrong.

QPCC had two teams in the same division in the 1930s.

In 1956, when the Trinidad Cricket Council was formed, they were split into the championship grade, equivalent to the present premiership one; and senior grade, now premiership 2.

In 1964, under Jeffrey Stollmeyer, the second team won the senior grade and was promoted to the championship division. I was playing on the first team then, thus I’m aware of how competitive it is when two club teams meet.

The reasons for two teams in one division are for the excellent rationality as explained by Mr Bassarath.

In the sixties, Maple club had two teams in the championship, while Harvard and Paragon had one each in championship and senior grade, playing in the North Zone.

There were two zones then, the North and South, the winners of each zone met in the final.

What do you want QPCC to do? Refuse the admission of players who want to join? Life is about growth and so is cricket!

Expand your club for the betterment of cricketers! Abe Lincoln once said: “You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong!”