K Laurence: Champions QPCC not worried about WICB (4 Jun 1998)

4 June 1998

Champions QPCC not worried about WICB

By Kwame Laurence

THE Queen's Park Oval will be a Test match venue during Australia's tour of the Caribbean next year. At least, Queen's Park Cricket Club (QPCC) vice-president Bruce Aanensen is supremely confident of that.

"We have a strong case," he told the Express yesterday, "particularly since we bailed out the Board last year."

But Aanensen said that while it seems logical that the upgraded ground should be high up on the West Indies Cricket Board's (WICB) list, there is some concern among club members.

"When we met with the Board about their common rental agreement proposal for the use of grounds in the region, we told them we had heard there was a draft itinerary that did not include the Oval. Marketing Committee chairman Teddy Griffith said there were a couple of drafts but that no final decision had been taken."

Aanensen quickly added that Griffith gave no guarantees and that though the comments made by WICB president Pat Rousseau in Grenada on the weekend were intended to suggest that the Oval will host a Test, the phrase chosen by the president was "international cricket"-not "Test cricket".

At the media conference which followed the WICB's Annual General Meeting in Grenada, Rousseau gave the assurance that "there will be international cricket at the Queen's Park Oval" during the Australia tour because the Oval was "one of our major venues".

The QPCC vice-president remains optimistic that T&T fans will get an opportunity to witness, first-hand, one leg of the regional team's attempt to regain the Sir Frank Worrell Trophy.

"Based on our discussions with the Board, we don't expect to be left out. And given our $11 million investment to improve the ground we are very hopeful. But they're keeping it very close to their chests."

Aanensen stressed that all discussions between the WICB and the QPCC have been very cordial. And he explained that the proposal to have all patrons pay to see international cricket is not an issue affecting just Queen's Park.

"This is a worldwide thrust, and for the World Cup MCC members may have to pay a levy. The Board's position is that they would like to see it practised at all grounds in the Caribbean, so they wanted to find out from us how it could happen here."

In response, the Queen's Park hierarchy outlined the problems of implementation. Aanensen said that since club members have to be given sufficient notice, the system would have to be phased in over a few years. And he was not woried about any adverse reaction from the membership.

The mebership, he added, was very pleased with the Queen's Park senior team's victory in the Carib National League. He noted that the triumph was achieved with a very young team and singled out Rodney Sooklal and the Paty brothers-Ricardo and Miguel-for special mention.

"We would have to give a lot of credit to Bryan Davis. It is his policy to grow young players in the club, and they came through this year. When we tour Australia in October/November, about nine of the players will be under 20," Aanensen ended. "Bryan gets the credit for working with the youngsters."

Source :: The Trinidad Express (https://www.trinidad.net/express/)