(Jamaica Gleaner) Newly elected President of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), Dr Donovan Bennett, says it will be all about cricket during his tenure after his comprehensive victory at the polls over Wilford ‘Billy’ Heaven following the election of officers for at the JCA’s annual general meeting held at the Jamaica Conference Centre on Thursday.
After a lengthy delay due to the finalisation of the voters’ list, Bennett secured 67 votes to Heaven’s 30 after 97 delegates cast their votes.
From the outset, there was an air of confidence in the Bennett camp, and whispers of a landslide victory punctuated the conference centre, which, in the end, proved to be true as the votes were tabulated and read out by outgoing secretary Dianne Campbell.
Bennett, who has more than 40 years of dedicated service to the game, told journalists following his victory that his immediate plan is to focus on youth cricket, which will ultimately bear fruit and bring back success to the nation’s cricket.
“If we are going to rebuild Jamaica’s cricket, we have to start at the bottom and work our way up, and I think the voters thought they needed someone with the proper knowledge of youth cricket and how to administer it,” said Bennett.
Bennett says he will start at development from the under-13 level up to under-15 and also focus on filling the gap at the under-23 level, which has been woefully lacking. The St Elizabeth native also mentioned that he would be placing a lot of emphasis on the clubs and parish associations, which are the lifeblood of the sport locally, and he intends to ramp up the fundraising efforts to offset this.
“One of the things that as an administration we didn’t do well was to go out and ask for funding, and we intend to do that because without funding, you can’t do much. I also have significant goodwill with Cricket West Indies, and I intend to utilise that to our advantage,” Bennett said.
In the meantime, Heaven congratulated Dr Bennett on his victory and reminded his successor that he was still willing to play a part in the game’s development.
“I am for cricket, and he knows my areas of competence, and it is up to him to ask me and for me to agree, but we will wait until that time,” Heaven said.
In the meantime, Fritz Harris secured the nod to become first vice-president, with Dr Akshai Mansingh returning as second vice-president. Laurence Garriques is the secretary, with his assistant being Keith Wolford.
Kerry Scott retained his post as treasurer, with Michael Atterbury as his assistant.
The directors for the Cornwall division are Chester Anderson, Dixeth Palmer, and Horton Dolphin, and Ian Spencer, Baron Watson, and Novelin Ricketts were appointed as directors for the Middlesex division.
The five Surrey directors are Nehemiah Perry, Keith Campbell, Anthony Davis, Godfrey Flemming, and Paul Beckford.