Clive Hubert Lloyd, the man appointed by the government to chair the Interim Management Committee (IMC) to deal with the affairs of cricket in Guyana in a specific capacity, has stated unequivocally that he is still Chairman of the Cricket Committee of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Speaking to media operatives at his office at the Ministry of Sport building, Lloyd was responding to recent rumours reportedly emanating from newspapers and unnamed sources that he has lost his job at the ICC and they will be looking for a replacement in June.
Lloyd, who replaced Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar as the ICC Cricket Committee Chairman in July 2008, was firm in stating that he has not had any correspondence from the ICC about such a matter.
“I spoke to the ICC, why would the ICC want to replace me; I haven’t done the ICC anything, as things stand I will be attending the ICC meeting later this month.”
When asked to comment on why he resigned as Director of the West Indies Cricket Board, Lloyd said the decision was made after long and serious deliberation over the current cricket problems he is dealing with in Guyana.
“I would have been quite happy to stay on (as WICB director), but I thought that this is the time, I have more work to do here with the IMC, I resigned voluntarily, no one has forced me,” Lloyd explained.
He continued: “The government has given us a chance to get our cricket back on track, and once our cricket is fixed we are helping West Indies cricket too, because if you examined over the years we always had a great number of representatives on the West Indies cricket team, so we want to bring that back.”
Lloyd on Tuesday delivered a letter of resignation to the WICB, ending his tenure as an administrator with the board. It has cleared the way for the former West Indies captain to remain as head of the IMC, installed by Guyana’s Sport Minister to manage this country’s cricket after a series of controversies within the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB).
Lloyd highlighted in that letter that he found himself “caught between loyalty to country and loyalty to the WICB” and it was with a sad heart that he found himself with no other option but to resign.
He went on to state that he hoped that his resignation would act as a catalyst for the members of the WICB “to ask soul searching questions and take a hard look at what could be done differently to get our cricket back to the glory days.”
In concluding his comments, Lloyd said that the IMC will continue to work on the mandate given by the government. Currently the IMC is conducting a series of public seminars (in Georgetown, Uitvlugt, and Providence so far) with regards to the role of the IMC and in Lloyd’s view those present at the meetings have been giving very good opinions, suggestions and solutions to fix the problems affecting cricket in the respective areas.
