Lewis trounces Murray in cricket elections

Ellis Lewis was elected president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) yesterday at the board’s 47th annual general meeting at the National Cricket Centre (NCC) in Balmain Village, Couva. The health consultant defeated his lone challenger Deryck Murray by the margin of 30-13 to succeed the long-standing Alloy Lequay. The 79-year-old Lequay however remains as the Chief Executive Officer of the board. Dudnath Ramkeesoon was elected un-opposed as the first vice-president, while the hard-working Baldath Mahabir withstood a fight from Lalman Kowlessar to take the post of second vice-president. Mahabir tallied 32 votes, while Kowlessar got only 11.

Anand Daniel was re-elected secretary over Forbes Persaud 28-14, while Richard DeSouza was returned as the treasurer un-opposed. The only executive member being left out this time around was Harry Narine. There was also an extra place made available with the ascendency of Mahabir and both places were filled by former Test player Suruj Ragoonath and Arjoon Ramlal of the North East Zone. “I am happy to be elected president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) and I must say I will not be trying to fill the shoes of my predecessor Alloy Lequay. Everybody is different and I will be trying to bring my own approach with the hope that it does not interrupt our development,” said Lewis to the media after his victory. “I must immediately send out a message to the public that whoever is fearful of Alloy Lequay dominating me, must fear nothing. I am my own man but of course Alloy will have his role to play in the forward thrust of cricket in this country,” said Lewis.

He said he immediately plans to look at the zonal structure of cricket in TT. “When I was chairman of the South West Zone, there were players like Gus Logie, David Williams and Wilfred Debisette coming through. I think that this area has been too dormant and I will definitely look at the zonal structure so as to remedy this problem,” he said. Lewis also said that his does not intend to keep Murray away from cricket. “I have not thought of including Deryck in my plans but at the same time I have not blanked out the idea. I will definitely welcome Deryck to help in the development of the game,” he said. “In the media some people were just looking at the fact that Murray was a former player and saying that he was the best man for the job. They are misinformed and definitely don’t know what is going in cricket at the moment. They even questioned who is Ellis Lewis? I will like to say that I know about Trinidad and Tobago’s cricket and where we want to take it and I am confident that with my executive intact I will do the job,” Lewis said.

TTCB ELECTION RESULTS
President : Ellis Lewis
First vice-president: Dudnath Ramkeesoon.
Second vice-president: Baldath Mahabir.
Secretary: Anand Daniel.
Treasurer: Richard DeSouza.
Executive members: Rambhai Patel, Patrick Rampersad, Ann Browne-John, Azim Bassarath, Arjoon Ramlal and Suruj Ragoonath.