PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – The National Gas Company (NGC) plans to pump another US$1.2M (TT$7 668 000) into the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board’s (TTCB) national programme, officials announced here this week. Azim Bassarath, the TTCB president, said the NGC had already put up US$800 000 this year and the new disbursement would bring the overall cash injection to $2M.
The sponsorship deal covers the period 2011-2013 and will fund T&T’s participation in the 2012 and 2013 Twenty20 Champions League, the Grassroots Developmental Programme, National Cricket Academy, the regional and local T20 competitions, along with domestic zonal and women’s cricket.
“We are indeed very fortunate to have NGC on board as we build Trinidad and Tobago’s cricket brand,” Bassarath told a media conference.
T&T qualified for the T20 Champions League in India after winning the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship earlier this year.
Baldath Mahabir, head of the TTCB’s marketing committee, said the deal would allow the Board to effectively implement its development programme.
“We are indeed very happy with this arrangement and we can now continue our delivery of quality cricket administration in this country,” he said.
Indar Maharaj, president of NGC, said his company had partnered with the TTCB because of the passion which cricket still invoked in the country and the special role the game played in the development of young Trinidadians.