Regional cricket analyst Fazeer Mohammed has called on the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) to shed some light on the circumstances surrounding the decision to sack T&T Red Force coach Mervyn Dillon ahead of the upcoming season.

Under Dillon, in the WICB Regional Four Day competition, the Red Force finished one place above the previous season’s third-place finish, with the coach promising to do better in the next campaign. 

At the end of 2019, Red Force stormed into the semi-finals of the 50-Over tournament with seven wins in eight matches in Group B.  They, however, lost in the semi-finals by four wickets to the Leeward Islands Hurricanes.

According to reports, the TTCB has indicated that due to the impact of the pandemic they would have been unable to pay Dillon.  The coach’s position had, however, been advertised in April, despite his insistence that he was keen on returning to the post.  A spat with out of favor West Indies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin had also surfaced during Dillon’s tenure.  Ramdin officially filed a complaint with the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) but was told the matter could not be looked into until the end of the season.

"Given what he achieved in the truncated 2020 season in lifting Trinidad and Tobago Red Force to a second-place finish in the campaign, the absence of Mervyn Dillon will be a loss to the twin-island republic as they get ready for the new season,” Mohammed told T&T’s 7pmnews.

“It must be feeling as a slight to Dillon himself, whatever the reasons for him being replaced.  We understand that it could be purely financial, and one appreciates the challenges in these difficult times for sports generally,” he added.

"It would certainly help if the administration headed by Azim Bassarath would be very forthright and very transparent in explaining the circumstances in which Mervyn Dillon is going to be replaced as coach of the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force.”