By NAN Sports Editor
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. Mar. 25, 2018: Just moments after scoring a come from behind win in the race for President of Cricket West Indies, (CWI) and unseating incumbent Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron, the underdog candidate, Ricky Skerritt, vowed to hit the ground running.
Skerritt, 62, once a manager of the West Indies Cricket team and the former tourism and international transportation minister of St. Kitts, beat Cameron by a vote of 8 – 4 to claim victory.
The win was a surprise since going in, Cameron had touted the support of the boards of Barbados, Guyana and the Windwards Islands while Skerritt and his running mate, Dr Kishore Shallow, who challenged Emmanuel Nanthan, for the post of Vice-President, only had the endorsement of the boards of Trinidad and Tobago and the Leewards Islands.
However, on Sunday in a vote at the Jamaica Pegasus that was watched by audi firm KPMG, the Windwards Islands and Jamaica also threw their support to Team Skerritt and Shallow, handing them the win and ushering in new leadership to the board.
“I am humbled and deeply honored to be elected as President,” Skerrit said after the win. “We pledge to work for improvement on and off the field for West Indies Cricket.”
Skerritt and Dr. Shallow, who ran on a 10-point plan, had received several top endorsements in the run-up to the election including from former West Indies skippers and players – Sir Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Roger Harper and Sir Andy Roberts as well as Prime Minister St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr. Ralph Gonsalves and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Sir Hilary Beckles.
Meanwhile, Cameron and Emmanuel issued a statement thanking “the team of people who supported them throughout their three-term tenure from 2013 to 2019.”
“We anticipate the sport will move towards its true potential and we ask the new team to build upon the progress and to continue to fight for equity in world cricket,” they added.
