BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOMER Tourism and Sports Minister Ricky Skerritt has expressed disappointment over comments on his candidacy for the Presidency of Cricket West Indies made by the incumbent, Dave Cameron.
A statement from Skerritt indicated that he was not surprised at Dave Cameron’s negative response to the announcement by himself and running mate Dr. Kishore Shallow to challenge for the offices of President and Vice President respectively.
Cameron, during a recent media interview on Line and Length network, described Skerritt’s four-year stint as manager from 2000 to 2004 was a“period of turmoil”.
“While I was team manager there was zero industrial unrest by players,” Skerritt said. “We were proud ambassadors for West Indies cricket globally. This period was a time when we were still winning more matches than we lost, and players were still respected by the CWI leadership. Instead of making such unfounded and petty attacks on me, I recommend that Mr. Cameron hold audience with former players and ask about their experiences and existing relationships with me. But relationships with facts and truth apparently mean little to Cameron.”
He said while Cameron was at the helm of Cricket West Indies, he faced multiple instances when the Board and the senior players specifically battled in public view, often with expensive financial claims and damages resulting.
Skerritt stated, “If Cameron wants to talk about turmoil, perhaps he can explain why former Head Coaches Otis Gibson, Phil Simmons and the several others who Cameron hastily and summarily dismissed from both the men’s and women’s teams, have collectively cost CWI well over US $1M.”
Lashing out further at the incumbent, Skerritt said under Cameron’s presidency the senior men’s team took industrial action and withdrew from the ill-fated 2014 tour of India. He also said that two years later, Captain Daren Sammy openly challenged the Board following the 2016 T20 International World Cup Victory in India, adding that Sammy has never been selected since for the team he led to World Cup glory.
The former government minister lamented that “these tumultuous instances have caused significant damage to the CWI reputation, Commercial Health and team performance. Cameron really should not allow the subject of ‘turmoil’ to become the feature of this campaign”.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kishore Shallow said: “The opportunity to rescue Cricket West Indies is now. It is imperative we change the narrative of our cricket in the West Indies and globally by rebuilding relationships with our best and brightest players in order to bring our passionate fans back to the game.”
According to the release, Skerritt and Dr. Shallow were nominated by the Leeward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Boards to contest the election in March.
