BCA not shutting Skerritt out, supporting Cameron – Riley

Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) president Conde Riley, in announcing support for incumbent Dave Cameron when the elections for president of the Cricket West Indies takes place on March 24 in Jamaica, has also dismissed conspiracy claims by challenger Ricky Skerritt.
Riley, in an interview with the Nation, a Barbados newspaper, said her organization was fully backing the nomination of Cameron and his vice-president, Emmanuel Nanthan, in their bids for re-election.
Furthermore, he said, not allowing Skerritt and his running mate, Dr Kishore Shallow, to present a defence of the reasons they wanted support for their nomination, was not an undemocratic act.

According to Riley, Skerritt’s request to present ahead of the nomination process took place just before the BCA met to discuss the nominations and it was decided that the organization would be supporting the incumbents.
“Once the board decided that they were supporting the incumbents, that was it. You can’t come out and go against something that has been agreed on a vote by the full BCA board,” said Riley.
Skerritt had, last week, blasted the system of governance presiding over the sport of cricket in the West Indies, saying his shut out proves the need for change.
“We wrote to directly to the Presidents and the Boards, asking only for the opportunity to present our plan for change,” he said. “We did not ask for their support or for a nomination.”
“Three boards – Barbados, Guyana and Windward Islands – wrote back in a matter of days, all turning down our request, almost in tandem.”Skerritt said: “In the case of Guyana, we noted that they had chosen to nominate Dave even before the nomination process was open.”
“The three presidents confirmed their unwavering support for the incumbents and very respectfully said no thanks to our request to present.”
Shallow was even more forthright in his opinions on the decision of the three boards.
“This type of blind, unrelenting support without even exploring leadership options or alternative ideas contradicts the democratic process and is probably not reflective of the majority base of members who they represent,” said Dr Shallow.
“Cricket leaders should seek more information from the base and should explore new strategies in order to push the game at the local and regional levels forward.” (Sportsmax)