Sports
Jelani Beckles
THE TT Cricket Board (TTCB) has restructured the TT Red Force selection panel as Rajendra Mangalie has replaced former West Indies fast bowler Tony Gray as the chairman of TT Red Force Selection Panel.
Newsday was reliably informed by TTCB officials that former national cricketer Mangalie will work alongside former national cricketers Mahadeo Bodoe and Richard Kelly Jnr on the panel.
The first assignment for the new team will be to select a team for the upcoming 2021 regional tournaments. Cricket West Indies is targeting February for the start of the Super50 and early April for the start of the Four-Day tournament. Plans are not concrete because of the covid19 pandemic.
Bodoe was asked to be the chairman, but due to business commitments, he decided to decline the top post.
Bodoe worked under Gray previously, but this will be Kelly’s first stint as a Red Force senior selector. Keno Mason, who also played on the national senior team, will not continue in his position as selector.
In the 2019 West Indies Four-Day Championships, Red Force finished the season fourth among the six teams with Gray at the helm of the selection panel.
In the following season the team ended second behind champions Barbados Pride.
Gray served on the selection panel for approximately five years and was chairman for two years.
The new national coach, which the TTCB will announce by December 1, will also be a part of the selection panel.
Former TT and West Indies fast bowler Mervyn Dillon is the former coach of the TT Red Force. Dillon was hired in January 2019, but his contract ended in April.
April 30 was the initial deadline for all candidates to apply for the Red Force coaching position. The TTCB delayed the process in naming the new coach because of covid19. Multiple local and regional tournaments were put on hold and the TTCB decided to utilize the expertise of coaches Kelvin Williams and David Williams, while the board looks for a new coach. Kelvin and David are both employees of the TTCB.
Among those who have shown interest in the Red Force coaching position are Dillon, former national cricketer and Trinbago Knight Riders assistant coach Imran Jan, former TT and West Indies leg spinner Samuel Badree and TT Red Force manager David Furlonge.
The Red Force captain for the upcoming season acts as a consultant alongside the selectors. The captain has not been confirmed.
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