TML/Oasis Water and Executive General Upholsterers 2018 Premier League captains in official uniforms with T&T Cricket Board President Azim Basarath at the Player Auction Ceremony held at the TML Centre, St Joseph. From left is cricket commentator Fazeer Mohammed, Sameer Juman of Rockford United, Idrees Mohammed of ATCO Curepe Blazers, Azim Basarath, Aamir Khan of TML Enforceres, Saffraz Bocus of Kingsmen, Ariz Khan of Office R Us Scorpions, Javed Sankar of Executive Eagles, and Naim Khan, chairman of TML Cricket.

TML/Oasis Water and Executive General Upholsterers 2018 Premier League captains in official uniforms with T&T Cricket Board President Azim Basarath at the Player Auction Ceremony held at the TML Centre, St Joseph. From left is cricket commentator Fazeer Mohammed, Sameer Juman of Rockford United, Idrees Mohammed of ATCO Curepe Blazers, Azim Basarath, Aamir Khan of TML Enforceres, Saffraz Bocus of Kingsmen, Ariz Khan of Office R Us Scorpions, Javed Sankar of Executive Eagles, and Naim Khan, chairman of TML Cricket.

National cricketers Rayad Emrit and Imran Khan are the marquee players in this year’s Trinidad Muslim League (TML) 2018 Premier League windball cricket competition, sponsored by Oasis Water and Executive General Upholsterers.

At the recent franchise auction, a first in local cricket, SWAT Kingsmen retained the services of allrounder Emrit, a former national captain, and Khan, a spin bowler who is a key player in the national Red Force team.

The auction was staged on Sunday (January 14) at TML Conference Centre in St Joseph and among the attendees were president of the T&T Cricket Board Azim Bassarath, and cricket commentator Fazeer Mohammed.

Also present were the six franchise owners who were on hand to bid for star players from a pool of approximately 100 cricketers.

Defending champions of the TML Premier League tournament are Nur-e-Islam Executive Eagles. At stake this year is $8,000 for the winners, and $4,000 for the runners-up.

At Sunday’s function, Bassarath said that the TML was doing an exceptional job in involving Muslim cricketers in the sport and he looked forward to a very exciting and competitive tournament.

The local cricket chief said that as far as he was aware the franchise auction is the first of its kind in local cricket and mirrors similar bidding processes in the Caribbean Premier League and the IPL in India.

He said that the auction is a very complicated activity where there are many rules and regulations which must be complied with and he commended the TML team headed by Naim Khan for the hard work they have done in bringing the process to fruition.

TML Cricket bowls off tonight at 8.30 pm and the TML Grounds on Eastern Main Road, St Joseph.

Former national and West Indies batsman Daren Ganga will be on hand to deliver the feature address and open the tournament.

THE FRANCHISES:

  • Rockhard Cement: Rockford United representing the San Juan area
  • Eniath’s Printing Co Ltd: TML Enforcers representing the TML and St Joseph area
  • Office R Us: Scorpions representing Santa Cruz and north Trinidad
  • Atlantic Trading: ATCO Curepe Blazers representing Curepe
  • Executive General Upholsterers: Nur-e-Islam Executive Eagles also representing San Juan/Aranguez
  • SWAT: Kingsmen representing central Trinidad

Published in the Trinidad Guardian, Friday, January 19, 2018

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