Central Zone cricket executive disbanded

The executive of the Central Zonal Council of the T&T Cricket Board has been disbanded and and a three-man interim committee was appointed by the local board to run the affairs of the zone for the remainder of the term ending September 2009.

This was revealed by CEO and General Secretary of the T&CB, Forbes Persaud, following the board’s monthly executive meeting held last Thursday at the National Cricket Centre in Balmain, Couva. Persaud said that numerous attempts were made by the board to facilitate an amicable resolution to the problem affecting the zone but it proved unsuccessful.

He said that officers and representatives of the zonal council agreed that an arbitrator be appointed to deal with the issue with the arbitrator’s decision to be accepted by all. Persaud said Dr Claude Denbow was appointed arbitrator.

“The executive of the T&TCB at its monthly meeting last Thursday accepted the decisions of Dr Denbow, which stated (a)—An independent committee should be appointed to run the affairs of the zone for the remainder of the term; (b) Members of the present executive should take no further part in the running the affairs of the zone; (c) No persons who was a member of the zone in any period during the past five years, should be a member of the interim committee to run the affairs of the zone. Against this background Samuel Saunders (chairman), Lennox Sankersingh (vice-chairman) and Rambhai Patel (secretary/treasurer) were appointed to form this committee,” Persaud stated.

Patel who is the Administrative Manager of the T&TCB told the Trinidad Guardian that the players and clubs are mostly affected and are the ones that are helpless at the moment. “After serious deliberation and taking everything into consideration—the love and the over 10 years I served as secretary—I just could not turn my back on the zone. I have accepted and will do my utmost in the best interest of the zone. My main concern at the moment is to seek the best interest of the zone for its clubs, players and other stakeholders,” Patel said.

Patel was voted ‘Administrator of the Year’ in 1993 by the T&TCB and in 2002 he was awarded the Humming Bird Silver Medal by the government of the T&T in recognition for his outstanding contribution to cricket and by extension sport.

Former chairman of the zone, Lalman Kowlessar has endorsed the move by the T&TCB to appoint the three-man committee to oversee the affairs of the Central Zonal Council. “It was a necessary step taken by the board to appoint the three-man committee. Within the last four years, Central Zone has witnessed a dramatic decline in the the leadership of the council,” Kowlessar said.

The zone which was headed this season by UNC A County Councillor Narsingh Rambaran, has been riddled with controversy with allegations of misappropriation of funds, among other accusations. When contacted yesterday, Rambaran refused to comment on the matter.

Naz Yacoob
Trinidad Guardian