HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) – Former Bermuda captain Clay Smith has announced he is to run for the presidency of the cash-strapped Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) in place of Reggie Pearman, who is stepping down. Announcing his late decision to throw his hat in the ring in what might turn out to be a three-horse race, Smith, 40, said: “This is like the challenge of all challenges, to be able to come back and give something back to the sport from a different perspective.
“I just see it as a challenge that is probably bigger than I have encountered before in my playing career.”
Smith, a schoolteacher, believes he has the credentials to be elected at next month’s annual meeting after deciding to put his playing and coaching career on the back-burner.
“Cricket is in my blood and I am one of those people who can get the job done; just look at my track record as a player, captain and coach,” said Smith, a fine batsman whose brother Wendell also skippered Bermuda.
“What the BCB presidency needs right now is someone who is going to be visual and somebody who is going to make a difference, and I feel that I have a lot to offer cricket and so I am going to give it a shot.”
Bermuda’s 2011 domestic season was plagued by indiscipline on the pitch and high on Smith’s agenda to reform the local game is “establishing a manner of professionalism throughout cricket from administrators, right down to the players and clubs”.
Smith will go up against BCB first vice-president Allen Richardson, who earlier in the year seemed likely to be elected unopposed. Former BCB president Ed Bailey has also not ruled out making a comeback.
Bermuda’s decline at international level since reaching the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean has resulted in a reduction in money the BCB receives from the International Cricket Council while the Bermuda government has also been forced to slash its annual contribution to the Board’s coffers as it grapples with a national debt which has ballooned to more than US$1 billion.