Skerritt cries conspiracy involving Barbados, Guyana and Windward Islands

Challenger for the presidency of the Cricket West Indies Ricky Skerritt, is hopping mad over what he calls outdated governance structures within the organization he wants to run.

Skerritt sent a press release on Friday, alleging that three cricket boards, Barbados, Guyana and Windward Islands, have blatantly attempted to shut him out of the political process by refusing to hear his plans for the presidency of the CWI, were he to be given a mandate.

Skerritt will be posting a challenge for the presidency against the incumbent Dave Cameron when elections take place on March 24 in Jamaica. Along with Skerritt, is Dr Kishore Shallow who has put himself up for the post of CWI vice president against incumbent Emmanuel Nanthan.

The two have released a manifesto now known as the ‘Cricket First’ 10-point plan, and it is apparently the details of that plan Skerritt alleges he and Swallow were not allowed to explain.

“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.”

According to Skerritt, the need for the governance model to change, was apparent even before that, as four of the six territorial boards, whose 12 votes decide the hierarchy of the CWI, had nominated Cameron and Nanthan.

“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.”

"The is no need to change [the leadership of West Indies cricket]. Even the fiercest critics can see we are bearing fruit." - Julian Charles, Windward Islands Director