The West Indies Cricket Board's loss has been the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board's gain, as Carib Brewery extended its unbroken partnership to 15 years with the announcement that the company would again sponsor the Sunday League and Twenty20 competitions this year.

Carib's sponsorship and events manager, Colin Murray, said at a news conference on Thursday that the sponsorship for the two competitions is close to US $1 million.

"Carib is happy to be on board with the T&TCB in this partnership," Murray said. "They are a professional bunch of people, committed in spreading the game throughout T&T and, by extension, the Caribbean."

More professionalism

Murray said the increase in sponsorship is simply because of the great work the T&TCB is doing in promoting cricket. The former national all-rounder urged the clubs to be more professional and take a closer look at the game as to where they want to reach.

"A little must be done to the clubs in terms of club management structure and club administrators," he added.

Murray called on SporTT and the Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs to assist the T&TCB to help clubs improve on their facilities including the laying down of turf pitches.

Also speaking at the launch was former West Indies wicketkeeper and president of the T&TCB, Deryck Murray, a director of the WICB.

He heaped praises on Carib Brewery for its ongoing support for cricket in the country and acknowledged that it would be a challenging year for the country, not just in terms of cricket, but in other aspects including finance.

"We want to cooperate with our stakeholders to make T&T cricket proud," he said. "I want to thank Carib for their continued support and hope that they are happy with what the T&TCB has to provide in terms of good competitive cricket."

Murray also disclosed that the national team taking on Barbados in the opening round of the West Indies first-class championship, which started yesterday, will be wearing black armbands in memory of the late boxing star, Jizelle Salandy, who died in a single-vehicular accident las Sunday.

The Sunday League competition will bowl off today with 16 matches across the country, whereas the Twenty20 tournament is set to start on January 28.