Ramkessoon, Murray lock cricket horns

Unlike the last time around when he was defeated by Ellis Lewis, Murray now has the backing of a group called the Friends of Cricket comprised of several former members of the TTCB including Dr Allen Sammy, Azim Bassarath, Omar Khan and Clarence Shaffarali.

Yesterday Murray told radio station WMJX 100.5 FM that he was confident of claiming victory when he comes up against long-serving administrator Dudnath Ramkessoon.

‘It’s time for a change. Change is necessary for the survival of cricket, the mood is right. We need to address a whole gamut of issues," said Murray.

Over the past couple months the Friends of Cricket has been canvassing support picking up votes at the zonal and league levels and are hoping to mount a serious challenge to the incumbent slate.

Outgoing president Lewis is not standing for re-election which has opened the way for Ramkessoon, who served as first vice-president of the Board and chairman of the national selectors going into today’s elections.

He has a wealth of experience in running the affiars of the Cricket Board working closely with former president Alloy Lequay now Chief Executive Officer.

Ramkesson said yesterday that he was quietly confident that he will be elected to the top post based on the exemplary record of the board over the past years.

"I think we have done enough to remain in charge of the affairs of cricket. If you look objectively at the progress we have been making you will agree that it did not take ten years to achieve positive results," Ramkessoon said yesterday.

Over the past year Trinidad and Tobago registered an unprecedented sweep of the region’s top competitions with the exception of the four-day league championship.

And Ramkessoon is confident that the the senior Trinidad and Tobago cricketers are close to ending their close to 20-year drought at that level.

"We have seen the quality players who have come through our system now making a name for themselves at Test level for the West Indies."

Among the cricketers he said who have reached the highest levels of the game under the present administration are double world-record holder Brian Lara, fast bowler Mervyn Dillon, allrounder Dwayne Bravo, pacer Ravi Rampaul, middle-order batsman Lendl Simmons, allrounder Richard Kelly and new regional wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin.

Another shining example of their legacy is the widely admired National Cricket centre at Balmain which is the only one of its kind in the Caribbean.

Ramkessoon said the incumbents are campaigning on a proven track record which he said will sweep them into another term of office where more will be achieved in the coming years.

In today’s election 46 delegates are eligible to vote.