Khan: Lequay best for WICB president

NATIONAL cricket team manager Omar Khan thinks Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board boss Alloy Lequay should be made president of the West Indies Cricket Board. Khan, responding to critics demand that Lequay quit as TTCB president, said it is beyond him to believe this was really happening to such a fine administrator. “If the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) discuss eligible candidates for the post of president and the two Trinidad and Tobago representatives come back with a report that is discussed by the local executive, then it is beyond me to understand why people are attacking Alloy Lequay.” President and chief executive officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB), Lequay, has been heavily criticised for the decision taken by his Board to support Guyanese Chetram Singh and not local candidate Willie Rodriguez for the post of WICB president which was to be filled at an executive committee meeting in Dominica last weekend.

Rodriguez who was nominated by the Jamaica Cricket Associa-tion (JCA) withdrew from the race after it was clear he did not have the support of the  local Board. The TTCB  had already publicly declared their full support for Singh. According to Khan: ”When the TTCB executive sat down to decide on their choice, no one knew that Rodriguez was in the race, so how can they expect the Board to change their decision just like that, there is a matter of principle involved.” It is now history that Singh also withdrew after he was faced with being  debarred from attending International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings, due to his ownership and involvement in a betting shop, the Goodwood Racing Service in Guyana. Directors of the WICB then took a decision to allow re-elected vice-president Val Banks to act as president until they call a special meeting to elect a new boss. The WICB have again opened up nominations for the presidency, and Khan thinks that the right man for the post is Lequay. “At this point in time there is no better person than Lequay for the top post in West Indies cricket. “Now that nominations are opened again I think that the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) should nominate the long serving and brilliant administrator. “Fate has played its hand and now it is up to the local Board to nominate its president to rescue West Indies cricket at the this time. People it seems are reluctant to offer their services to lead and it is my view that the perfect solution to this is to get Alloy on board for at least the next two years, so that he could lend some stability to the association. “Alloy is vastly experienced as an administrator and is an organiser extraordinaire. West Indies cricket can only be better off  by having him in the saddle right now.” Khan also believes that Lequay would gain support from around the region. “Alloy is highly respected around the region and will gain support once nominated. He is definitely the right man for the post at the moment.”