West Indies Cricket Fans

President of the T&T Cricket Board (T&TCB), Azim Bassarath is calling on the government to allocate more money for sport and culture in order to arrest some of the social ills in this country. Bassarath made the comment in response to the fact that the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) has been able to retain 15 cricketers on contract. “He said that the BCA gets a part of the Barbados lottery proceeds and hence they can afford to make that move. “While the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) must be approved, we must understand that they are in a better financial position to offer retainer contracts to their players.

“We have plans to retain about 18 to 20 cricketers here but in order to do that we will have to engage the ministry of Sport or the Sportt Company to assist. The Barbadians share in the proceeds of their lottery system and I think it is a very good idea for the government of T&T to look into. “In this day and age, where there are so many social ills in our country, the government should realise that sport and culture can play an integral part in curing the ills and hence they must invest more heavily into these areas.
“I think that proceeds from the lottery and lotto should be used to assist sports and cultural bodies so that they can reach out to more people and make a positive difference.”