St. John's (Antigua), Sep 10 (IANS): The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has sought to pass the buck on the sacking of Denesh Ramdin as captain by saying this had been recommended by a panel headed by the legendary clive Lloyd.

A WICB statement issued on Wednesday was released in response to media reports suggesting sinister motives may be behind the decision to sack the Trinidad and Tobago wicketkeeper-batsman and replace him with Jason Holder, reports CMC.

The decision has drawn fire in some quarters including from the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board president, Azim Bassarath, and former West Indies manager Omar Khan.

Bassarath says he does not agree with the decision to sack Ramdin while Khan has called on the WICB to come clean.

A WICB statement said that Holder’s appointment had been recommended by the Clive Lloyd-chaired selection panel and "endorsed unanimously" by the directors.

However Khan has pointed to comments in the media by director Azim Bassarath who says he did not participate in the teleconference because of his commitments as a returning officer for Monday’s general elections here.

“The West Indies Cricket Board would like to clear the air, following a number of media reports throughout the Caribbean concerning some details of the decision to replace Denesh Ramdin as West Indies captain,” the statement read.

"… the appointment of Jason Holder was recommended by the WICB Selection Panel and endorsed unanimously by the Directors who participated in a teleconference meeting on the matter last Wednesday."

Khan has also suggested that Ramdin may have been fired as Windies captain because of his decision to resign from the West Indies Players Association (WIPA).

But in attempting to dismiss this claim, the WICB noted that Holder is currently not a member of WIPA.

West Indies are preparing for a tour of Sri Lanka to play two Test matches, three One-Day Internationals and two T20s.