Umpires Council bowled out, TTCB official defends taking control of appointments

THE Trinidad and Tobago Umpires Council (TTUC) no longer has the responsibility to appoint umpires to officiate in club cricket matches in TT, as an appointment committee has been named by the TT Cricket Board to select match-day officials.

The TTUC has had the role of picking umpires for domestic league matches in TT for decades. However, at a TTCB board meeting in October, board members voted for an appointment committee.

TTCB general secretary Altaf Baksh told Newsday on January 31, "This was brought up at the TTCB AGM where the discussion went into the fact that Cricket West Indies (CWI) would also do their own appointments as well as many other international bodies.

"Therefore, when we threw it out to the board members they agreed unanimously that there should be an appointments committee selected by the TTCB to do these appointments."

Baksh said it was CWI's suggestion that territorial boards have their own appointment committee.

He said the TTUC was contacted to have a representative on the committee. "We asked on more than two occasions for that representative to be named...we did not get a response."

The TTCB also reached out to the TTUC to ask for its opinion on the 30 most capable umpires to officiate in the National League premiership division, but to no avail.

"In the interest of cricket and knowing that cricket is starting this weekend, last week we went ahead to start selecting umpires and therefore the committee went ahead to do its job," Baksh said.

Five matches in round one of the premiership National League competition, the top division in the country, will be contested on February 1 and 2.

One upset umpire, who chose to remain anonymous, told Newsday on January 31, "What would have been the norm since 1968 is that the cricket board would have sent the fixtures to the TTUC and then the TTUC has an appointment committee to appoint umpires for various games...

"They (TTCB) calling umpires secretly and appointing them to games because they did not come to some agreement."

He added, "I understand the TTCB has their constitution and the TTUC has their constitution, but our constitution is plain – they (TTUC) make the appointment. We are the sole body for umpires, not the cricket board. This thing where the cricket board reaching out to hire umpires is wrong, it is totally wrong."

Baksh said since a quarterly meeting in 2024, the TTUC is now an associate member of the TTCB and not an affiliate. Therefore, the local board's constitution "overrides" the TTUC constitution.

"Some deciding they following the board, but these umpires who doing that will face disciplinary action," the umpire said.

"Last year August, the board removed the umpires body completely as affiliates to them, and now you want to control umpires. To me that makes no sense. If we were still part of the body or affiliates they could have moved their motion and make their vote and say, 'Okay, this is what we want to do,' and we would have had no choice but sit back and say 'Okay, the democratic process was followed,' but you removed us completely."