BY SHARI JOHN

“House and Land for T&T cricketers.” This was the plea of T&T cricket team manager, Omar Khan at the VIP lounge at the Piarco International Airport upon their return from Antigua after winning the Stanford Twenty/20 tournament on Sunday night.

“I want to go a step further, you are all our national heroes and I want to go a step further by asking the government and the minister to look into the future of these young men, they have made T&T proud over the last two years, unfortunately, a number of them are unemployed, a number of them have applied for land and a number of them have applied for homes.

“They are still trying to grasp the future of their lives and I want to ask the government and the minister to look into the future of these players, we want the government to join with us in a partnership to help develop the lives of these young men,” Khan, the newly West Indies team manager stated.

Khan presented the cheque for US $200,000 (TT$1.2M) which the team won as a part of its lucrative prize, to the first vice president of the T&T Cricket Board, Azim Bassarath.

The cheque, according to Bassarath will be used for the development of facilities for the young aspiring cricketers in the country.

Upon their arrival, they were greeted by the Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs, Gary Hunt, Richard J Williams, Treasurer of the T&TCB, past national coach, Kelvin Williams, in addition to tassa drummers, moko jumbies, and their many die hard fans, some of which arrived from Antigua just a few hours before.

The T&T cricket team returned home led by captain Daren Ganga, US$ 1.2m richer after a stunning performance that demolished a Jamaican cricket team.

“Winning the ICC champions trophy was great, but this felt even better, to bowl out a full strength Jamaican team for under 100 in less than 16.4 overs was unbelievable.

“If someone had told us before the game that Jamaica would be bowled out for 91, we would have said ‘no way’, but I’m very happy to be a part of it, to have played in the tournament and bring home another trophy for T&T.” These were the thoughts of all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, as he emerged from the VIP lounge.

The team restored their pride which was taken from them at the first Stanford twenty/20 tournament in 2006 when they were beaten by Guyana, where T&T lost the final and were forced to settle for the runner- up position.

“I’m sure most of you will look back and reflect in 2006, the very thrilling final that we had against Guyana, one of the things that drove us in this competition this year was the memories from that final,” Ganga said.

“T&T, this is for you.”