Murray slams player behaviour at final

West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) director Deryck Murray lashed players' behaviour as the Carib Beer Challenge Final ended yesterday at Guaracara Park.

The hot-tempered match - that Trinidad and Tobago won by 49 runs over Barbados - saw repeated acrimonious verbal exchanges between opposing players, and Murray believes the authorities should move swiftly to tackle the problem.

"Here are the two best teams in the region, role models for our cricket in the future. We need in the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players' Association to address that issue and ensure that it doesn't happen again," said Murray, a former West Indies wicket-keeper/batsman and current president of the T&T Cricket Board.

Barbados captain Ryan Hinds, and his team-mates Floyd Reifer and Dwayne Smith were all summoned to a meeting -- before yesterday's fourth day -- by match referee Clarence Shaffralli for behavioural infractions during the game.

Shaffralli's findings are expected to be handed over to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Murray, who played on West Indies World Cup-winning teams in 1975 and 1979, expressed sympathy for umpires Billy Doctrove and Norman Malcolm, suggesting that their job was made tougher because of the conduct of some of the players.

"I don't think I have ever played or been a spectator at a game where the umpires' job has been made so difficult, and I think in fairness, I have to say that it's unacceptable for West Indies cricket to put our umpires under the kind of pressure they were," said the 63-year-old Murray.

"There were seven incidents reported to the match referee and that again is not taking into account the other incidents that were not reported," Murray added.

Murray played 62 Tests and 26 One-Day International (ODI) matches for the West Indies between 1963 and 1980 and took over as TTCB president in October 2005.