By ZAID MOHAMMED Friday, August 14 2009

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Deryck Murray...

A SERIOUS move is being made to remove Deryck Murray as president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB).

The planned action at the annual election of officers in October is likely to be the strongest challenge yet for the incumbent administration in control for the past five years. A prominent figure in the move is former Appeal Court judge, Justice Anthony Lucky.

The TTCB executive is headed by its president Murray, a former West Indies wicketkeeper with ex-school teacher Forbes Persaud, their chief executive officer and general secretary.

The desire to throw out Murray and his fellow officers has been heightened by the recent turmoil in West Indies cricket and the decision last weekend by the TTCB to stay away from the annual general meeting of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

During the past weeks it has emerged that a strong slate opposed to Murray and his team is being formulated in an effort to unseat the current administration. It is understood that the latest addition to the campaign is Lucky who is reportedly backing those opposed to the present regime. Lucky is currently on the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea based in Hamburg, Germany. He is also a member of the Disciplinary Committee of the WICB.

According to a reliable source, Murray will be up against Azim Bassarath, first vice-president of the TTCB for the top job. Bassarath is a senior officer in the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation and heads the South East Zonal Council.

Also expected to join the campaign is an outspoken and influential former national cricketer who currently occupies a leading position in the Queen’s Park Cricket Club, one of the top clubs in the country which controls the Oval, regarded as a premier cricket facility in the Caribbean.

The momentum to coalesce the forces opposed to Murray has escalated following the revelation last week that the TTCB would not be attending the annual general meeting of the WICB in Antigua and Barbuda.

In making the disclosure at the annual prize-giving function of the TTCB, staged at President’s House in St Ann’s last Saturday, Murray said the move was designed to indicate to the WICB that the TTCB was not happy with the direction the regional game has been taken under the present board headed by Dr Julian Hunte, the former St Lucian diplomat.

Murray said he hoped the protest action would galvanise the other territorial boards to make similar moves which would be a catalyst for change at the top level of the administration of the game which he saw as fundamental to the resuscitation of the fortunes of the Caribbean side on the international stage.

However it is reported that many clubs are not in agreement with the stance taken by the Murray- led TTCB as they are of the view that TT should not have abdicated their responsibility to be present at the WICB meeting and participate in its deliberations while at the same time agitating for change.

The source in the Bassarath camp revealed to Newsday the move by Murray could be interpreted in the context that the election campaign to re-elect the incumbent administration is truly underway but that the rival slate would do all in their power to highlight what they term as the inefficiencies of the present administration.

They are counting heavily on the support of clubs in the south and central zones and the newly revamped East Zone whose votes could prove pivotal in the upcoming election.