The Price Club Supermarket has injected an additional $300,000 into the development of youth cricket in Trinidad and Tobago.
Following up on its recent joint sponsorship of $221,000, with Tiger Tanks Trinidad Ltd, for the on-going Under-19 Inter-Zone Youth Series, The Price Club made another mammoth investment of $200,000 into the upcoming Under-17 tournament, and a further $100,000 for the age-group North/South Classics.
This announcement was made by TT Cricket Board (TTCB) president Azim Bassarath at the U17 launch which was held at the Alloy Lequay Administration Centre in Couva on Wednesday.
The U17 Youth Series bowls off on Monday and will feature eight teams in two groups; East, North, North East, Tobago (Group A) and South, South East, South West and Central (Group B).
Day one matches will see North East vs Tobago at Prisons’ Grounds, Arouca; East vs North at the National Cricket Centre, Couva; South East vs Central at St Julien Recreation Ground, New Grant and South vs South West at James Park, Point Fortin. All matches begin at 9.30am.
Bassarath praised The Price Club for their continued investment and called on other corporate entities to maximise on their investment through sport.
“Without age group competition such as these, our youth would not have a stage to showcase their talent. So it is important that the corporate sector takes advantage of the tax incentive offered by Government to give generously toward sporting activity.
“It is the wish of the TTCB, that more civic-minded and patriotic people can step up and show how much they care about empowering our young people.
“Now more than ever, those who can afford to must not be reluctant to partner with the TTCB and other sporting organisations, to be a force for good.
“There are great opportunities for friends of cricket to make a contribution to the sport and get significant returns on their investment,” he said.
Bassarath pointed out that top international talents such as TT’s Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Dwayne and Darren Bravo, Evin Lewis and Nicholas Pooran would have all passed through these TTCB youth programmes.
[caption id="attachment_946115" align="alignnone" width="1024"] TTCB president Azim Bassarath, left, with four U17 cricketers who will feature at the upcoming Youth Series tournament and The Price Club managing director Shamshad Ali. - Courtesy The Price Club[/caption]
He believes many youngsters who will play in the U17 inter-zone will go on to reap success in the game and became household names locally, regionally and even internationally.
After the Scotiabank U15 NextGen, The Price Club Youth Series U17 and Tiger Tanks-Price Club U19 tournaments are completed; the top performers will be placed into eight teams.
Four teams will be selected for an U16 tournament while four more, for an U19 competition. These two four-team competitions also serve as selection criteria for the North/South Classic.
The four-team tournament will be sponsored by the sport and culture fund while the Classic, financed by The
