By Neto Baptiste
Re-elected head of the Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB) and a Cricket West Indies (CWI) director, Enoch Lewis, said former president Dave Cameron must first convince him that regional cricket will benefit from his elevation to the top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) before he could support his bid for the top position.
In an interview with Observer media, Lewis said that although the decision must be made at the board level and that the input of all stakeholders must be considered, Cameron must first indicate how the regional body’s support will be rewarded.
“What is it you’re going to do for West Indies cricket? We have a lot of youths in the Caribbean that need support, and if it is that there is somebody could provide some support, financial or otherwise, in terms of developing these youths and get them to a higher level or to the next level of performance, then I think you are bound to give consideration to a proposal like that because it is not really about you the individual, it is about how it is going to affect West Indies cricket and hopefully, in a positive light. If that’s the case and it’s a win for West Indies cricket, then you would take a look at it,” he said.
According to reports Cameron, who was dethroned as CWI president by Ricky Skerritt in March last year, will be seeking nominations for the post, but is yet to make a request for the CWI to support his bid.
Lewis said that should a bid be received from Cameron, the board would pay it the usual respect given to all such requests.
“I believe that once the request is made that the board would take a look at it collectively and come to a decision, but I have not been asked and I haven’t seen a request from him but I really don’t know what the proposal contains or whether or not there is a proposal,” he said.
“I believe that the letter will come and I don’t believe that any one individual will make that decision so it will come to the board, probably as an agenda item or … at a special meeting just to discuss that, and when you get to that meeting you weigh the pros and cons and you see whether or not the request makes sense for West Indies cricket,” he added.
ICC Chairman, Shashank Manohar, is not expected to seek re-election when his term ends this year with the ICC slated to discuss the election of a new boss in the very near future.
At the moment, frontrunner to fill the spot being left vacant by Manohar is England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief, Colin Graves.
Graves was expected to be elected unopposed when he steps down from his five-year sojourn at the helm of the ECB in August.