By Neto Baptiste
If nominated on the night of the electoral general meeting, President of the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA) Leon Rodney said he will accept the opportunity to challenge for another two-year term at the helm of the sport’s governing body here.
The association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) was scheduled for this month, but Rodney said that a number of factors forced the executive to postpone the vote for a still to be decided date next month.
“We’re going to push for some time in December and we would have to give, I think, two weeks’ notice. We were swamped over the period of time and apart from that, there are certain documentation that would just not be ready. We have to understand because if we were paying to get it done, it would cost quite a bit of money so we have to be patient with the person dealing with that, but definitely, I am sure we will get the elections off before the end of the year,” he said.
Rodney has served as head of the association for the past six years with many applauding his efforts to re-energise the sport.
The former player however believes there is more work to be done if the sport here is to return to its glory days.
“Yes, if asked again for the next few years because we have some work that can be finished and I believe that so far, we are all satisfied that this executive has done a reasonably good job. Could it be better? Of course, it could have been better, but I think we’ll get some reasonably high marks; in the ‘90s,” Rodney said.
Cricket, just like all other sports, was halted in March 2020 after the country recorded its first case of Covid-19. The sport however, made a return in December 2020 with a new 10 overs competition, and became the first sport to return to competition.
The body successfully hosted its Super 40 competition after which matches were halted after spectators ran onto the field in Bethesda to celebrate their team’s triumph over Empire Nation in the final.
Rodney recently revealed plans for the hosting of a tournament in December.