By Neto Baptiste
Cricket West Indies (CWI) President, Ricky Skerritt, has sought to debunk reports that he denied his predecessor Dave Cameron, an audience following the Jamaican’s announcement that he will be seeking to become the next chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Speaking on Observer Radio’s Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, Skerritt said he in fact, received a letter from Cameron but that the document was very vague and that nowhere in the letter, did he seek an audience with CWI.
“Just a few days after having turned down a very amicable request from the governance reform taskforce to meet with them, we received a letter from my predecessor which, in effect, he said the letter speaks for itself and he said, looking forward to your support. Nowhere did the letter ask for anything,” he said.
“The letter was simply saying about all the things that he said I knew about, and in other words, I knew all these things he is going to do so therefore he is looking forward to my support. I received a letter on the 29th of June and just a few days later, we received a claim from Mr. Cameron’s lawyers lodging a claim in the high court against CWI and against myself, suffice it to say, it relates to the PKF report,” he added.
Skerritt, who dethroned Cameron as CWI President last year, said the ICC chairman hopeful, probably assumed that he would automatically receive CWI’s blessing given his previous connection to the organisation.
“He, in effect, was assuming that because Cricket West Indies knew the issues, that he could look forward to our support; and I suppose he feels like that is an automatic support and so the letter came across as look, I expect you to support me. I know he has the right to think that, but however, he has gone on to tell people and I am not sure where he got it from, that I have said I am supporting the chairman [Ian Watmore] of the ECB [England & Wales Cricket Board],” he said.
“There is no nomination before the ICC. Nobody, including the chairman of ECB, to the best of my knowledge, has announced that he is going to be running for the ICC chairmanship,” Skerritt added.
The CWI boss also clarified reports he had written to his board members informing them that the decision on whom to support for ICC position is solely reliant on him.
“I wrote to the board letting them know that I would welcome any feedback they had on that matter and any related matters, but also reminding them this was an ICC matter, it’s not a CWI matter, and that as the ICC director, I would take all matters into consideration and that at the time of the election I would make a decision in my own deliberate judgment as to what is best for world cricket and for ICC,” he said.
In a recent interview, Cameron said he was still awaiting official word from CWI regarding his appeal for support in his bid to become the next ICC chairman.
The Jamaican has made a compelling argument for his stance against the economic disparity between the “big three” in India, England, Australia and the smaller cricketing powers like the West Indies.
The United States Cricket Hall of Fame had written to Manohar, indicating that they would like to recommend Cameron to the top post. The former CWI president will however needs two nominations to stay in the race.