KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Incumbent Cricket West Indies president, Dave Cameron, does not believe he can lose Sunday’s elections, especially with three territorial boards already in his corner.
So much so, the Jamaican says he has refused to do extensive campaigning in the lead up to the heavily anticipated meeting here, as he seeks a fourth term in charge of cricket’s regional governing body.
Windward Islands, Barbados and Guyana have already pledged their two votes to the Cameron ticket which includes vice-president, Emmanuel Nanthan, leaving the pair with six of the seven votes required to win the elections“If you noticed, I have not been campaigning,” the Gleaner newspaper here quoted Cameron as saying.
“We have three of the territorial boards coming out and clearly saying that they are in support of the plans and the way forward. That means we have six of the possible 12 votes.
“My understanding is that this means that we can’t lose.”
Cameron is up against challenger Ricky Skerritt, the former St Kitts and Nevis cabinet minister, while Nanthan is being opposed by St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association president, Dr Kishore Shallow.
The challengers have already gained support from Trinidad and Tobago and Leeward Islands, leaving the Jamaica Cricket Association – who are yet to declare their support – as the critical votes in the election.
Cameron said he was seeking re-election on the back of a successful record over his six-year tenure, and was already focussing on plans to further West Indies cricket.
“The focus for us is how do we do business. We lost US$22 million last year as a business,” Cameron pointed out.
“Luckily we were able, with relationships we have internationally and regionally, to fund those losses, short term, albeit and we are now trying to put proper finances in place for the medium to long term, while we now go to try to change the economics of world cricket.”
He continued: “We are looking to take the Windies public in two years. That, we believe, will bring in some equity, but more importantly, it will get the people in the region owning a piece of something that is very dear to their hearts and emotionally attached.
“We have a massive gap in our balance sheet. When we took office in 2013, we had a deficit of about US$6 million. We erased that in the next couple of years and built up an accumulated balance of US$5 million.”
