By Neto Baptiste
Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) presidency hopeful, Anand Sanasie, has sought to clarify that former president Dave Cameron, is neither a member of his campaign team nor would he serve, in any capacity, should his bid to become head of regional body prove successful later this month.
Earlier this month, Cameron publicly threw his support behind Sanasie and his running mate, Calvin Hope, of Barbados, following news that the pair would challenge incumbent Ricky Skerritt and his VP, Dr Kishore Shallow.
“I understood that he [Cameron] did make some public statements and I received a call from Cameron to say ‘congratulations’ and ‘I wish you good luck’. But now, I understand that this is being made out to be something about Cameron and I can tell you that the incumbent has not really gotten over his challenge and what went on between himself and Cameron,” he said.
“Cameron is not part of my campaign. Cameron will not be part of my administration and I think for myself — and I have my own individual ideas and policies I would like to bring to the board — and I am looking forward to all the support I could get from anywhere. Should I be elected, I intend to include Mr Skerritt, Mr [Julian] Hunte and Mr Cameron,” he added.
Speaking on Observer Radio’s Good Morning Jojo Sports Show at the time, Sanasie accused the Skerritt-led board of underachieving over the past two years, adding that the incumbent is blaming Covid-19 for his shortcomings.
“By the time Covid came around, last March, it was actually a saviour for us, being that we were supposed to host two losing tours, meaning no revenues would have been coming in and you would have been spending money. A lot of things kicked into place which had been agreed to at Cricket West Indies to rescue the organization, so while Covid is a major problem, Covid would have been beneficial to us to the extent that we may have saved ourselves six to seven million US dollars, given that a lot of cuts were done and we did not have to expend money on non-lucrative tours,” the presidency hopeful said.
Sanasie, who is a key figure in the ongoing fight between the GCB and the Guyana government, is also questioning the profitability of a number of broadcast deals recently announced by Cricket West Indies (CWI).
“Many months ago, there were a few proposals — and I can only assume that those are the figures — but let me tell you something that is not being said in all of these agreements. Unlike the previous broadcast title, we are now paying for all production and it’s a tremendous cost. So when I am analysing what these deals are, I would have to factor in what it is compared to now having to carry the production cost,” he said.
“If I see in excess of $5 million annual earnings, then I’ll say ‘okay, we’re breaking even now and we’re making a profit on it’, because broadcast rights is the main thing for us. On the day with the first match of the Sri Lanka tour, the first T20, is when we announced a tentative deal in Asia and that’s certainly not good enough,” he added.
CWI is set to host its annual general meeting (AGM) to elect a new president and vice-president and other officers on March 28.