Clarke Road cricketers touring Jamaica
Wednesday, August 5 2015
PREMIERSHIP Division cricket club First Citizens Clarke Road United accepted an invitation from Treasure Beach Pirates of Jamaica to participate in a five-match tour between August 4-14.
And not to be left out of the continuing development initiative is the Penal club’s Under-16 team which will be travelling to the sister isle of Tobago for a four-match stint against their age group counterparts.
The opportunities provided for the FCB Clarke Road United cricketers to gain valuable experience can be attributed to the visionary and committed leadership of a management team led by their president Baldath Mahabir.
Their impressive progress from ordinary club side to national champions can be traced back to similar ground-breaking initiatives instituted more than three decades ago and mirrors what is now mooted in franchise cricket.
Quite apart from the establishment of the First Citizens Clarke Road United cricketers over this period, the club continues its successful community projects in its home district of Penal, building on a rich legacy of sports development that has seen multiple successes over the years.
Starting in 1985, under the guidance of Kumar Rampat, a West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Territorial Development Officer (TDO), and with the support, at that time of the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation, the club has nurtured and produced numerous national, regional and international cricketers at both youth and senior levels.
Among them are Mukesh Persad, Surujdath Mahabir, Daren Ganga, Adrian Barath, Gregory Mahabir, medical doctor Tishan Maraj, and recently Nicholas Pooran, Derone Davis and Mark Deyal.
From its humble beginnings as an affiliate of the TT Cricket Board in 1981, Clarke Road United made tremendous strides as an entity and evolved into a benchmark for community sports organisations.
Its management has also secured a mutually beneficial relationship with a corporate partner of 15 years, First Citizens Bank, and the club is also well-known for its pioneering work in fostering the ideal of Caribbean Integration, as it was the first local cricket club to utilise the services of regional players in its domestic roster.
Team to Jamaica: Yannick Ottley (captain), Kjorn Ottley, Jyd Goolie, Clevon Kalawan, Mukesh Persad, Kazeem Mohammed, Adrian Ali, Mark Deyal, Samuel Roopnarine, Kerwyn Siruj, Kyle Mayers, Vikash Mohan, Dinesh Mahabir, Dr Balkaran Ramkissoon, Fazad Khan, Anthony Bahadur, Roland Sampath (Manager) and Steve Gopeesingh.
