THE T&T Cricket Board has expressed its congratulations to Ricky Skerritt and Dr Kishore Shallow on their recent election as president and vice-president respectively of Cricket West Indies.
Skerritt, a former West Indies team manager, won the approval of four of the six regional territories who voted at the annual general meeting of the CWI on Sunday at the Pegasus Hotel in downtown Kingston, Jamaica.
Both Skerritt and Dr Shallow both emerged victorious by an 8-4 margin (each territory had two votes each) to dethrone incumbent CWI president Dave Cameron and his vice-president Emmanuel Nanthan.
It is understood that only Guyana and Barbados supported the highly unpopular outgoing tandem who were both seeking a third consecutive three-year term of office.
But it was TTCB which initially backed the nomination of former government minister Skerritt and his running-mate Dr Shallow to challenge for the top administrative jobs in regional cricket.
Azim Bassarath, president of the TTCB and a director of CWI who travelled to Kingston for the AGM said he was very pleased with the outcome which vindicated the decision to support the move for new men at the helm.
“We are quite optimistic that Mr Skerritt and Dr Shallow will initiate changes in the administration of West Indies cricket which will have a positive impact on the game at all levels. We believe that the new president has the experience and the courage to implement change and heal the wounds that have impacted negatively wherever cricket is played in the region,” said Bassarath.
The local cricket chief and first vice-president of the TTCB Arjoon Ramlal were present at the AGM as T&T directors on the CWI Board and did not vote. Instead, it was TTCB first vice-president Kerwin John, president of the Tobago Cricket Association, and TTCB treasurer Sukesh Maniam who cast the ballot for Skerritt and Dr Shallow.
Guardian Media Sports understands that when the nominations for the elections were closed on February 24, Cameron and Nanthan were nominated twice - by the Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control (WICBC) and seconded by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), and secondly by his native Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) and seconded by the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA).
The opposition camp of Skerritt and Shallow was nominated by the Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB) and seconded by the T&T Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB). It has been reported that before Sunday's vote at the annual general meeting (AGM), a representative from the TTCB raised a motion to have the election of the officers be conducted by secret ballot. It received majority support.
Each of the six territorial boards (JCA, BCA, WICB, LICB, TTCB and GCA) had two votes each, and the votes can be cast by two representatives nominated by each of the territorial boards.
Meanwhile, Bassarath said that he expected Skerritt to get straight to work to smooth over the relationship between the CWI Board and several players which were a source of controversy and irked cricket fans throughout the Caribbean and beyond.
Among the issues which struck a sour note and stirred animosity against the CWI Board was Cameron's handling of run-ins with senior cricketers Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy.
He also played a key role in the wrongful termination of Windies head coach T&T and Tobago's Phil Simmons in 2016. Several players, including ICC T20 World Cup winning captain Sammy and T&T allrounder Dwayne Bravo, also questioned Cameron's approach and policies since the abandoned tour of India in 2014 when Bravo was the captain, and the World T20 triumph two years later.
Bassarath said that he was impressed with the ten-point plan put forward by Skerritt and pledged that the TTCB will be working with the new president to ensure that meaningful change to benefit West Indies cricket would be a reality.
Bassarath said that the TTCB fully endorses the Skerritt Plan as outlined:
*Creation of a cricket-centric organizational culture
*Optimum use of technology for greater effectiveness
*Increased Investment in grassroots cricket
*Enhancement of the franchise system
*Modernization of coaching education
*Increased exposure for U23 & U19 players
*Re-evaluation of system of team selection
*Repair of stakeholder relations
*Decentralization of High-Performance system
*Utilization of regional technical expertise