PRESIDENT OF the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) Azim Bassarath defended the decisions of his National League committee to have three of its Premiership I League fixtures begin on a Friday, as well as the continuing decision to have two Queen’s Park Cricket Club (QPCC) teams compete in the same tournament, with only one foreign player allowed.

This comes after newly-appointed Clarke Road coach Dinesh Mahabir questioned the fixtures presented by the committee at the board’s final executive meeting in mid-December.

Mahabir said a club fielding two teams in the same competition is “unprecedented in cricket anywhere in the world” and could lead to “unfair competition and a monopoly on talent” which might make it “completely unfair to other clubs in the league.”

QPCC II earned Premiership I qualification in 2016, after they won the Premiership II crown. This meant, for the 2017 season, they would have had two teams – QPCC I and QPCC II – competing in the same tournament.

Bassarath however, said QPCC were deserving of their promotion since they battled through every lower ranked competition, to earn their spot in the domestic top flight.

“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.

“It is not forbidden in the constitution of the board or its regulations. That is allowed. Nothing is wrong with that,” Bassarath said.

Mahabir added that QPCC I and II do not play each other in the first game of every format and suggested that it should be this way to prevent the possibility of leaving the door open to collusion when they play each other.

[caption id="attachment_995188" align="aligncenter" width="197"] Dinesh Mahabir -[/caption]

“Would you have QPCC I and II play each other the last game of a season when it determines their final finish and rank? For this reason they must play each other first,” he said.

However, Bassarath confirmed that each team received a copy of the 2023 fixtures since early December and it clearly states that both QPCC teams play each other in the second match of the Premiership I league (two and three-day matches) and 50-over tournaments.

“They (QPCC teams) are playing each other in the second game (of each format). The board is not that irresponsible to have two teams from the same club playing in the last match of the tournament. That is totally unacceptable and the board will never do anything like that,” said the local cricket president.

Mahabir said he hopes this rule stands if another club climbs through the ranks and breaks into the premiership.

Additionally, QPCC executive member Jeffrey Guillen said the club is deserving of having two teams in the