By Neto Baptiste
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA), Leon Rodney, said that although the issue would have to be discussed at an executive level, he personally would not endorse a promotion/demotion relationship between the ABCA and Parish League cricket.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, Rodney was responding to questions regarding a possible agreement between the two bodies where teams excelling in the lower tier Parish League competition could be promoted to the ABCA competition and ABCA teams demoted to the Parish League.
“In the first place, the clubs would have to be willing to step up their game, because what we have going on right now at the ABCA level in terms of teams and clubs, you would have seen the quality we were putting out there, especially in the Two Day tournament.
“The 40 overs has been much stronger with the exception of this year; I believe you could bring the first couple of games down to fatigue, but you must admit that over the last couple of years the 40 overs has been quite competitive. Sometimes the same guys who are playing for teams in the ABCA are the guys who would make up the Parish League teams when their teams are not playing, so the pool is not too big for me to say yes to something like that,” he said.
Principals of the Police cricket team have publicly advocated for the team’s return to the ABCA programme following dominant performances in a number of Parish League competitions.
Rodney said the team is free to apply for membership which would then have to be considered by the executive.
“They can apply but the executive would have to determine that based on our position right now and what’s happening. Could we allow a next team to make 11 teams? It’s easy for them to say they can, but we had invited two teams [Police and Freetown] into our 10 Splash, and this is out of some of the players’ mouth that they didn’t know it’s so hard this thing be,” he said.
However, the cricket association boss said that both entities maintain a good relationship with former player and coach Taddy Arrindell being the main driving force behind Parish League cricket.
“We have a very good relationship with Taddy Arrindell and that’s how I am going to have to put it because the reality is that right now, it’s Taddy’s thing and you can’t get away from that. If you asked the clubs who play in Parish League, its Taddy’s thing and we just have to respect that for now,” Rodney said.
Parish League wrapped up its 2023 domestic campaign with the final of the Dave Joseph Limited Overs competition which Police won by seven wickets over rivals Freetown.