As Cricket West Indies (CWI) elections date slowly approaches, Director, Anand Sanasie, has affirmed the Guyana Cricket Board’s (GCB) support to incumbent president, Whycliffe “Dave” Cameron while taking umbrage at challenger, Richard “Ricky” Skerritt’s remarks towards the GCB.
Sanasie, who is also the Honorary Secretary of the GCB, said his territorial board viewed Skerritt’s letter to the GCB as insult.
Skerritt had written the territorial boards including Guyana requesting the opportunity to talk to the area boards of their vision which included a 10-point plan if elected.
The request apparently fell on deaf ears.
“We are also aware that the GCB is providing unwavering support to CWI President Cameron and Vice-President [Emmanuel] Nanthan, even in the midst of various controversial decisions. We have therefore been warned by several cricket pundits that we would be wasting our time if we tried to earn votes from the GCB for the leadership bids,” the letter from Skerritt and his Vice-President hopeful and President of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association, Dr Kishore Shallow stated.
Sanasie explained: “You are insulting me by telling me all of this and then telling me you are seeking support,” he declared.
“The GCB at its General Meeting on January 20th took a decision to support the incumbent,” Sanasie added.
The letter stated that it is notable that “the GCB supported the incumbent, Mr. Julian Hunte when Mr. Cameron first ran for CWI Presidency six years ago.”
The CWI director pointed out that the GCB had made the decision to support the incumbent based on the track record.
“We can safely say cricket in Guyana has progressed under the leadership of Cameron but that aside, the setting up of the PCL [Professional Cricket League] is a legacy that Cameron has created and has really enhanced cricket development in the region,” said Sanasie.
“At that time [when the GCB made the decision] there were no challengers, there were some talk about the another individual wanting to run and even as of today, Mr. Skerritt nor Mr. Shallow had no conversation with me, a fellow Director about running for office and the irony is that we received a letter to give a hearing,” Sanasie said.
He noted that this year particularly, has shown the growth in West Indies Cricket with the Guyana Jaguars hard-pressed to retain their title with strong performances from Leeward Islands Hurricanes.
“In our mind we think Mr. Cameron during his time has been very beneficial to the GCB. We have won the PCL [Professional Cricket League] for five years, the PCL was something he brought in and Guyana Jaguars have won it all five times, 105 cricketers have a salary across the region and CWI has acquired its own facility at the Coolidge Cricket Ground,” he said.
He indicated that acquiring its own facility has always been on the agenda of past presidents but it was Cameron who saw it fit to bring about it after unaccountable monies and the pulling of Sagicor’s sponsorship led to the collapse of the High Performance Centre.
Since joining the CWI board, Sanasie detailed the democratic nature of Cameron throughout his time and said that he found it necessary to mention the adversarial approach Skerritt had to the President when he was appointed by CARICOM as their representative.
However, Skerritt, who resigned as West Indies team manager after four members of the team were spotted partying after an embarrassing collapse of 47 all out, was not nominated again for his seat at the table by CARICOM.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Keith Gonsalves believes that Skerritt, who is also a former Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis is the suitable candidate to lead CWI.
Sanasie posits that Gonsalves is apparently acting as if “anything against Cameron is good enough.
“My take on it is that CARICOM has their work to do. I would say respectfully, yes it is a public good, yes it is being run across the region and like most sporting organisations, we answer to an international body and comply with their structure and while you have to be accountable, the international community does not look good on political interference and they have to be very careful how they go about doing that but you cannot co-mingle with politics so that you end up with Prime Ministers picking the squad, you can make decisions, advise, assist,” he stated.
Sanasie said that the critics usually have a lot to say on the decisions made by CWI but when they turn out positively they become silent. He made reference to the appointment of interim head coach, Richard Pybus, an appointment which Skerritt had strongly opposed to the point where Sanasie says he “felt Skerritt has a personal problem with Pybus.”
“Usually when CWI makes a decision, people will have their say such as the appointment of Pybus and you heard noise all around then he went and won a test series against England and you hear nothing, so I have come to accept that when you make these decisions, you have to make it in the best interest of West Indies Cricket and if you are proven wrong then you get a whole set of flack but if you are right, everyone goes quiet,” he stated.
Sanasie said that the 10-point plan from Skerritt seems familiar.
“The 10-point plan, nine of the points are currently happening and you are telling me you are going to improve on them but there is no need for us to change who has put those in place and generally we don’t see the need for change at this time.”
He questioned why should there be the need for change if someone has already implemented a structure which the challengers were also trying to implement.
He said that it was absurd for Skerritt and Kishore, who has not yet completed a term as a CWI Director, to want to be at the helm of the board with little to no experience.
Both Cameron and Nanthan had been elected unanimously by the 12-member voting party in 2017 for their current positions.
Sanasie also discredited the suggestion by Skerritt of the body spending a lot of money on the President but pointed out that the President has been afforded the same luxuries as President’s past, despite the role being more “hands on than ceremonial.”
According to Sanasie, Cameron has been more proactive in the management of West Indies Cricket.
