Lara to guide Future Cricket Stars
By JONATHAN RAMNANANSINGH Friday, June 10 2016
West Indian batting legend, Brian Charles Lara, held the first of nine detailed development sessions of this year’s blink/bmobile Future Stars Cricket Programme at the indoor nets of the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva, yesterday.
Following the official launch, Lara was joined by several members of the Trinidad and Tobago Under-17 and Under-19 teams in a healthy discussion and warm-up segment on the gentleman’s game.
These high level sessions, which will be conducted by some of TT’s best coaches inclusive of the record-breaking batsman, received a healthy injection of $500,000 from the main sponsors as they once again partner with the the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) to assist in the overall development of young athletes.
Other esteemed coaches in charge of this special programme are David Williams (wicketkeeping), Kelvin Williams and Tony Gray (fast bowling), Raffique Jumadeen, Rajendra Dhanraj and Surujdath Mahabir (spin bowling) and National team coach Augustus Logie and Lara (batting).
In his address to the 32 young cricketers, Lara stressed on building team efforts during matches and harnessing close knit partnerships while between the wickets.
The former regional and national skipper also credited programmes such as these for providing opportunities to youngsters to become better all-round cricketers.
“My innings was never about scoring a milestone or a hundred, it was all about focussing on what the team needed and batting for as long as possible,†he said to the attentive players.
“This is something I would like to implore on you youngsters - how important it is as a member of a team, to do exactly what the team requires.†The world renowned former batsman admitted that while the flair of the game’s shortest version (T20) has captivated this new generation of cricketers, he urged the young men to get more involved in the longer version “It’s good to appreciate the shortest version,†he added. “The attrition of players in the field over a few days of cricket is what I love to see. I want to stress how important it is over the next couple weeks that you have the foundations and fundamentals correct before you start going on and doing different things.†The in-depth programme continues on Thursday at the Balmain facility and will also feature some Under-15 players.
Also attending yesterday’s launch was TTCB chief executive officer Suruj Ragoonath and other members of the executive including former WICB representative Dr Allen Sammy, national coaches Tarandath Sammy and Gus Logie, blink/bmobile chief marketing officer Camille Campbell among several dignitaries within the TTCB and other former national cricketers.
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