KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Honorary secretary Fritz Harris plans to challenge Wilford “Billy” Heaven for the post of president of the Jamaica Cricket Association, at the annual general meeting scheduled for next month.
The decision, according to Harris, was not based on any animosity but purely on his desire to help lift Jamaica’s cricket out of the doldrums.
“I can confirm it. It’s very early days but I can tell you that I will contest it. It’s a recent decision, so much of the planning has not yet started,” Harris told the Observer newspaper here.
“It has nothing to do with a fallout in terms of cordiality. We are all good mates but our sport is really, really struggling. Over the period we are not seeing where the leader is focused on improving the quality of the cricket.”
Harris, a school teacher, said he had turned down offers to run before but now felt the time was right for such a move.
He will be seeking to dislodge the incumbent Heaven who has served only one term, after winning elections back in November 2013.
“In December I was asked a third time and, in the interest of the sport, I decided to put my hat in the ring. What made the difference was the mounting number of people who kept approaching me,” Harris said.
“It wasn’t an easy decision; it was one I mulled over, prayed over and I talked to people. I guess in the end you have to put cricket above everything else.”
Heaven, a chief executive officer of a fund that invests in sports, health, cultural and educational development, said his tenure had been a challenging one but was not without success.
“It has been challenging in a number of ways. I believe that with more input from different quarters and different individuals we could have achieved more,” he said.
“Having said that, if you look at our records even after the first year in office, we have done significantly well, both in terms of administration and the legal aspects.”
