There will be no meeting between the Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Shashank Manohar and the Prime Ministers of the region on – West Indies Cricket as was promised earlier this year by the ICC, as Chairman Manohar is a no-show in the Caribbean this week.
After getting reelected in May 2018, Manohar stated,” It is an honour to be re-elected as chairman of the International Cricket Council, and I would like to thank my fellow ICC Directors for their continued support. Together we have made big strides over the last two years, fulfilling promises I have made to the sport when I was appointed in 2016."
Manohar continued, "Over the next two years, we can look forward to launching a global strategy for the sport in partnership with our members so we can grow the game and ensure more the world can enjoy cricket. The Sport is in good hands, but we are the guardians of the game and must continue to work hard to maintain that."
Sources close to the planned meeting have stated,” The ICC Independent Chairman Shashank Manohar is not coming again to the Caribbean, for the ICC Women’s T20 finals (Semifinals on Thursday (yesterday) and Final on Saturday (tomorrow), instead it appears as if the Chief Executive Officer of the ICC, Dave Richardson is the man now charged with arranging that meeting,”
Guardian Sports understands that this could be rather ticklish, as many are wondering how the Prime Ministerial Committee will react to such a situation, where they have to meet with an employee of the ICC, and not the head of the organisation.
One senior official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed the view, "That this could be deemed to be an insult to the Prime Ministers or even a lack of regard for their questions or interest in West Indies cricket …it seems as if there is a certain message being sent to the region’s heads, if the President after agreeing to meet in November will no longer be available,”
It is also understood, that another problem has risen with all the late arrangements by the ICC, with notice of availability, that the CARICOM chair of the Cricket Committee, Dr Ralph Gonsalves is scheduled to leave the region to attend an important conference in Dubai over the next few days, and will be absent.
Following the last Caricom Summit earlier this year, a number of Caribbean leaders asked for a meeting with the ICC to discuss the current terrible state of regional cricket administration, and were reportedly told by the ICC, that any meeting had to include embattled Cricket West Indies President, Dave Cameron, and the dates given were November during the ICC t20 Women Finals being held in the region. It is uncertain, if a meeting will in fact occur, and if so, whether other Prime Ministers, such as Dr Keith Rowley (T&T) and Andrew Holness (Jamaica) or Guyana’s President David Granger would attend, given that to date, the Caricom Secretariat, has not been able to tie down the ICC Team led by Dave Richardson to a date, time and composition team from the ICC, in the absence of Chairman of the ICC, Shashank Manohar.
Guardian Sports can confirm that no date, has been as yet confirmed with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley in keeping with all protocols.