BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Incumbent Cricket West Indies president, Ricky Skerritt, appears set to be returned unopposed at elections later this month after the under-fire pair of Anand Sanasie, and running mate Calvin Hope, announced yesterday they were withdrawing their challenge.
In a joint statement, Sanasie and Hope said the recent developments with the Guyana Cricket Board elections along with the events surrounding the postponement of last Sunday CWI Annual General Meeting, had forced them to “withdraw our respective candidacies for President and Vice President in the CWI election”.
“Given the unfortunate circumstances leading up to and recent events in Guyana regarding the Guyana Cricket Board, one of the six (6) Full Members of CWI, together with the refusal by the leadership of CWI to uphold the highest standards, long-standing traditions and rules for governing the administration of West indies cricket,” the statement said.
“We, Anand Sanasie and Calvin Hope, having distanced ourselves from such action of CWI, have decided to withdraw our respective candidacies for President and Vice President in the CWI election scheduled to take place at CWI 22nd Annual General Meeting on 11th April, 2021.”
The move comes in the wake of a decision by the Barbados Cricket Association and the Guyana Cricket Board to skip the scheduled virtual AGM forcing a postponement and subsequent suspension of the presidential elections.
Sanasie of the GCB and Hope, a BCA vice-president, had been primed to face off against Skerritt and his vice-president Dr Kishore Shallow.
However, both the BCA and the GCB said they were dissatisfied with the late distribution of CWI’s audited financial statements, contending the governing body had not provided the documents the stipulated 14 days in advance.
The no-show by the BCA and GCB was met by a backlash from their territorial board counterparts with all four who attended Sunday’s AGM issuing statements condemning the move.
Trinidad and Tobago Cricket board president, Azim Bassarath, said the GCB and BCA had “made a mistake” while the Leeward Islands Cricket Board said the action had brought CWI “into disrepute”.
The Jamaican Cricket Association labelled the decision a “dark moment” while the Windward Islands Cricket Board contended there had been no “good reason for the manner in which confusion and disrepute have been foisted upon our esteemed and honourable governing body.”
Sanasie and Hope campaigned on the platform of revamping West Indies cricket, with their “Operation Rescue” manifesto proposing a suite of initiatives aimed at restoring “excellence, soundness, confidence, unity and enthusiasm.”
Despite withdrawing from the elections, however, Sanasie and Hope said they would continue to engage the development of West Indies cricket
“We remain firmly committed to, and passionate about, cricket and to focusing on what is in the best interest of the administration of West Indies cricket,” the joint statement said.
