HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC — Former national team captain Clay Smith, who received no votes in this week’s Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) presidential race, says he feels betrayed by his own club but will “take it on the chin and move on”.
Smith went to the Board’s annual meeting on Tuesday night confident he had the full backing of St George’s Cricket Club, which had nominated him for the top post.
But in a surprising twist, the East End club placed their allegiance elsewhere to leave Smith, a former St George’s batsman, empty-handed.
Former BCB second-vice-president Lloyd Fray was voted in as the new president in place of Reggie Pearman, who stepped down. Fray received ten votes with ex-president Ed Bailey second with three.
“I don’t even know how to describe how I actually feel about that situation. To see them not even vote for me has left me totally speechless, Smith told the Royal Gazette newspaper. “To be quite honest, it’s worst than rubbing salt in the wound when you talk about a club that you basically have given the majority of your life to in a sporting aspect. “I did go to them asking for their backing to nominate me and you can only take for granted that they would back you with a vote.”
St George’s declined to comment.
Going into the meeting, Smith was convinced that the cricket fraternity was ready to embrace change and felt he stood a good chance of succeeding Pearman. But BCB affiliates ignored him.
“I’m really, really baffled because I thought the cricket fraternity was really ready for change, and that’s not taking anything away from Mr. Fray who I have the utmost respect for,” he said.
“I think he’s a good administrator and all that, but having met with some of the clubs and people that said I had such great ideas to take Bermuda cricket forward, you just expect a little bit more than that.
“To be quite honest I am not disheartened that I lost the race, it’s just the manner in which I did. When you do not garner no votes at all it sends a really strong message, and I’m just totally stunned.
“But you live and learn and life goes on. I’ll just take this on the chin and move on from here.”
Allen Richardson, an early front-runner for the presidency, told reporters after Tuesday’s meeting that he pulled out of the race at the 11th hour because he did not feel he had the reserves to tackle some of the other challenges associated with running local cricket’s governing body.
Several usually reliable sources, however, told the Gazette that Richardson, who remains the BCBC’s first vice-president, was never nominated by a BCB affiliate to run against Fray, Bailey and Smith. The claim was backed up by Richardson’s club, St. David’s, which backed Fray instead.
Richardson declined to comment.
