THE EDITOR: During this very mentally stressful period of our lives, any good news is a very welcome respite. All cricket fans in TT can celebrate the Friday's battle between two of our favourite sons of the soil, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine, in this year's IPL final.

At the Queen's Park Cricket Club (QPCC) we are very proud of our 'big three' who have featured prominently in the IPL for over a decade. Namely, Dwayne Bravo (CSK and Mumbai), Keiron Pollard (Mumbai) and Sunil Narine (KKR). The IPL is the most lucrative annual franchise cricket tournament in the world, whose recent ten-year TV contract is worth a staggering US$1.6 billion.

This year's tournament is the 14th edition and the QPCC has been well represented in most of the IPL finals. One of the 'big three' from QPCC has played in 11 of the 14 finals. In fact, on five occasions, like this year's edition, two of them will be - or were - in the final.

This is a staggering achievement for a small cricket club in the West Indies. This is an achievement that speaks volumes for the cricket development programme at the club - a youth academy created by Noel Guillen in the 50s, and superbly handled by Bryan Davis for over four decades.

The 'big 3" emerged under the watchful eyes of Davis, all home-grown from a very tender age. Pollard, although not in this year's final, carried Mumbai to the IPL title last season and will captain the West Indies in the upcoming T20 cricket World Cup.

This year's final will be Bravo's seventh time in an IPL final. He has won two titles with CSK. This will be Narine's third trip to a final with KKR. He has also won two titles with them. Pollard has appeared in six finals with Mumbai and he has won five titles with them.

If Bravo wins this year he would have won both the IPL and CPL in the same year. If Narine wins, he would maintain his 100 per cent record in the finals. Whatever happens, we are all winners, all TT fans, and we are certainly proud at QPCC.

DR NIGEL CAMACHO

president, QPCC