Board prez Rev Hall set to say ‘amen’

West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Wes Hall plans to quit the post at the board’s upcoming annual general meeting because of health issues, a well-placed source disclosed this week.

Hall, the smooth-talking religious minister who ran unopposed in 2001, has already notified some members of the board that he won’t seek re-election and behind-the-scenes negotiations have already begun to identify a successor reports Caribbeancricket.com website. It is not yet clear if Val Banks, the Anguillan banker who served as Hall’s vice president after the controversial end of the Pat Rousseau/Clarvis Joseph regime, will seek re-election. A date and location for the meeting, due by July 21, has not yet been finalised. “The date for the meeting is subject to when the financial accounts and reports are completed,” a WICB insider told CaribbeanCricket.com. “At this stage, the WICB secretary will give notice to the members that the terms of the president and vice president expires on July 21st and invite nominations for the positions.”

Hall’s departure is sure to set off a furious battle for the presidency and many expect Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) president Stephen Alleyne to be in the thick of things when the nominations are made in the coming weeks. The talk around town is that Alleyne, a Scotland-trained insurance executive, will win nomination from the BCA, with support from Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. When Hall took over in 2001, he was nominated by TT and seconded by the Leewards who then got backing from Barbados for Val Banks as vice president. If Banks puts himself up for re-election, the Leewards could toss their votes in Alleyne’s corner to keep their man in number two slot.