RE-ELECTED West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron said his administration will be dedicated to improving the regional game in his second term at the helm.
Yesterday, Jamaican Cameron predictably beat Barbadian Joel Garner 8-4 in the presidential elections staged during the WICB annual general meeting at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.
Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control President Emmanuel Nanthan, running on Cameron’s ticket, held onto his role as vice-president, beating Garner’s running partner Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board executive Baldath Mahabir by an identical voting margin.
“On behalf of the vice-president [Nanthan] and myself, I want to say how humbled we are to be given the opportunity to continue to serve West Indies cricket. It is with great satisfaction… and we are looking forward to really making West Indies cricket much better than we are today,” Cameron declared at the post-meeting press conference.
There were weeks of public disharmony amongst and within the various territorial boards leading up to yesterday’s vote.
The 44-year-old Cameron, who was flanked at the conference by WICB chief executive officer Michael Muirhead, West Indies Players Association (WIPA) president Wavell Hinds and Caricom secretariat member Dr Douglas Slater, made an apparent call for solidarity.
“The past is the past and we now look forward to working as a team,” he stressed.
Cameron also issued condolences to Garner, whose father died on Friday. Garner, who was said to have quickly left the meeting after the results were declared, was not available for comment and yesterday was believed to be seeking a prompt airline flight out of Jamaica.
Two members from each territory voted at the WICB election.
Jamaica’s voting representatives were Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) second vice-president Osman Dann and secretary Fritz Harris.
The WICB uses a closed ballot voting process, but it is believed that Guyana, Jamaica, Windward Islands and Leeward Islands voted for Cameron, while Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados were said to be on Garner’s side of the fence.
Two years ago, Cameron, who was then the vice-president, unseated Julian Hunte, who had held the president’s chair for three two-year terms, by a narrow 7-5 margin.
Garner, 62, the president of the Barbados Cricket Association and West Indies fast bowling legend, was seeking a first stint as head of the WICB.