T&T players involved in contracts dispute free to play

Port of Spain (Trinidad), Nov 4 (IANS/CMC) Trinidad and Tobago's cricket authorities have assured that their national players involved in the abandoned tour of India will not face censure and will be considered for selection in the upcoming regional first class season.

T&T Cricket Board president Azim Bassarath confirmed that his board would not get involved in the selection process and would leave the matter of who represented the country to the selectors, reports CMC.

"The selectors will decide who will play for Trinidad and Tobago. Nobody is going to interfere with the selection process. The policy of the board is not to direct selectors in terms of who they should select and so on. That has never been done in the past and I am guaranteeing that it will never happen under my stewardship. The selectors can select them if they see fit," Bassarath said.

Two key Trinidad and Tobago players were among the 15-man Windies squad that quit the India tour over a contracts row with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA). All-rounder Dwayne Bravo, the one-day captain, emerged as the players' spokesman while Test captain Denesh Ramdin was also part of the unit.

The TTCB came out in strong censure of the players' actions, moving a motion at board level which publicly condemned the decision to abandon the tour. However, Bassarath said this would not impact the players involvement in Trinidad cricket.

"The board members, the people who were there when the motion was moved, they had an opinion that it was a disgrace to abandon the tour and somebody moved a motion and it was approved. The players have not done the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board anything," he said.

--IANS/CMC

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