Two zonal councils including Central and South-East has been expressed support for T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) president Azim Bassarath ahead of the election of officers on October 31.
According to a release, at a board meeting last Saturday to ratify amendments to the TTCB Constitution, Bassarath announced that he will be standing for another term in office.
If elected, Bassarath will, for the first time, serve a four-year term which was one of the amendments made to the constitution, and unanimously approved by the TTCB Board last weekend.
For Central Zone chairman Anderson Ramdath, Bassarath has proven that he deserves to be at the helm with his strong leadership demonstrated over the past year and a half when the sport was seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that under the guidance of Bassarath and his executive, cricket continued to flourish at the highest levels as the national team played unbeaten to win the CG Insurance Super50 regional tournament earlier this year.
Ramdath said that when all sports was halted by the COVID-19 in 2020, the Red Force national team was nicely poised in second place in the Regional Four-Day Tournament.
“There is no doubt that despite the challenges of the pandemic and the scarcity of funds, Mr Bassarath has been able to chart a course where the TTCB is in a position to hit the ground running whenever the Public Health Regulations on group sports are lifted,” Ramdath said.
He said following up on the Super50 Cup success in Antigua and Barbuda, and the restrictions on sports activities, the TTCB under Bassarath was able to ensure that the national Under-19 players were afforded the best opportunity to bid for regional selection.
“We were able to have 16 U-19 players called for the Cricket West Indies training camp in Antigua in August as the region prepares to host the ICC U-19 World Cup at the beginning of next year,” said Ramdath.
The Central Zone official also highlighted the naming of hard-hitting allrounder Kieron Pollard as captain of the West Indies white-ball team and who will lead the regional side in its defence of the T20 World Cup title in the United Arab Emirates and Oman starting next week.