Hope for cricket withouster of Cameron

THE EDITOR: How do we take the ouster of Dave Cameron from the presidency of Cricket West Indies?

Do we subscribe to the view that there is dishonour in the last-minute defection of the promised Windwards or do we give this group the moral right to such defection for seemingly good reason, chief of which may have been the last-minute expressions of disapproval from WI icons such as Clive Lloyd et al, precipitated no doubt by Cameron’s snub of their competence in the administrative aspect of the game, and which may also include his overconfidence in terms of the outcome of the election on his behalf?

Or can we subscribe to his claim that the West Indies team has made great strides under his watch, using our success against England in the last series in the Tests and one-dayers as his yardstick when such success can hardly be considered the culmination of his work when the performance prior to this was hardly noticeable?

If even he can be given some credit for the first part of the English series, is it not logical to see the success of this segment as a moment of sheer brilliance from the leadership and the team as a whole and not because of any significant policy changes undertaken by the Cameron executive to achieve same?

Up to then nothing was done in reconciling the membership of the best WI team with contractual arrangements of players in other leagues, with some of our best, like the Bravos et al, languishing by the wayside as we suffered defeat after defeat. The debacle of the T-20s soon after our inspired success in the Tests and one-dayers is a symptom of the deeply entrenched disease of player/executive antipathy which reared its ugly head once again, even after such success.

As a Trinidadian I take offence also at the insularity of the Cameron-led board with Queen’s Park, once considered as the mecca of Test cricket in the Caribbean, virtually pushed aside in the scheduling, the last English series a case in point.

Nor can we overlook the way some of the best Trinidadian players have been neglected over time, seemingly all in the name of bringing the smaller islands up to par. We are all for the development of cricket from all the islands, but let there be equity.

I personally welcome Ricky Skerritt as the new chairman for one got a sense that with all the changes needed in WI cricket, no change in the leadership of the CWI, which so many were calling for, seemed forthcoming as Cameron suggested. No electoral system should be such that one can claim victory as a surety, and it’s time the structure of such a system changes.

DR ERROL N BENJAMIN via e-mail