ON Sunday, Ricky Skerritt pulled off a landslide victory against incumbent Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron to become the new President of Cricket West Indies (formerly West Indies Cricket Board). After much campaigning, speculation, lobbying, discussion and debate, the margin of victory was a convincing 8 to 4 (the six territorial boards each has two votes in the elections).

Skerritt contested on a ticket with Dr. Kishore Shallow, the youthful President of the St Vincent Cricket Association. Shallow also won his bid for the Vice-Presidency by a similar margin. It is believed that Skerritt’s eight votes came from the Leeward Islands Cricket Association (2 votes), Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (2 votes), Jamaica Cricket Association (2 votes), Guyana Cricket Board (1 vote) and Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control (1 vote).

Cameron’s meagre and insufficient four votes would therefore have come from the Barbados Cricket Association (2 votes), Guyana Cricket Board (1 vote) and Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control (1 vote). While the victory by the former Kittitian Minister of Tourism and former West Indies Team Manager did not entirely come as a surprise, the margin of victory did. When Cameron was elected over then incumbent Julian Hunte in 2013, it was by a narrower margin of 7-5.

For a fourth term at the helm, Cameron had been counting on both votes from Barbados, Guyana and the Windwards. He appears to have only gotten both votes from Barbados. In the case of Guyana, what Cameron did not seem to know was that Skerritt had a team of agents working in Guyana to lobby and persuade one of the Guyanese delegates to cast his vote for Skerritt. The two voting delegates representing the GCB were Rayon Griffith and Fizul Bacchus.

This would come as a shock to GCB Secretary and de facto leader Anand Sanasie, a widely-known Cameron backer, who had assured the Jamaican incumbent of Guyana’s two votes. Skerritt’s secret team working in Guyana included former players, former team officials, administrators and board employees. The other dissenting vote in favour of Skerritt seems to have come from Dwain Gill of Grenada who represented the WICBC.

What does this all mean for Guyana’s cricket?
In exchange for Sanasie’s unwavering support, Cameron offered protection to the embattled GCB Secretary with regard to the GCB executive’s legitimacy. Questions have been raised, and are constantly circulating regarding whether CWI should accept the two directors nominated by the GCB, Sanasie and Anand Kalladeen, to the CWI Board. This is on the basis that the GCB has not held elections since 2012, and the status of the executive has been the subject of several court proceedings.

Cameron turned a blind eye to this. The history of GCB’s troubles began under the PPP administration, when there was an attempt by a faction led by Bissoondyal Singh of the East Coast Cricket Board, in conjunction with the Georgetown Cricket Association, to unseat Sanasie and his executive. The matter took on national political implications when the PPP government sided with Bissoondyal Singh in an effort to oust Sanasie. A bitter, nasty and vicious battle ensued.

Sanasie and the current GCB administration, however, could run into major difficulties with the new CWI Board, since they are likely to seek to determine the legal standing of the GCB’s executive. Certainly, the GCB not having held elections for several years will raise red flags with the Skerritt administration. The blind eye that Cameron turned to governance matters of the GCB is not likely to continue with Skerritt.

What this means is that the GCB will need to begin moving into election mode. But before this happens, the issues surrounding the legitimacy of the Demerara Cricket Board, and also unresolved matters relating to the Berbice Cricket Board, would need to be addressed. Both the Sanasie faction and the Bissoondyal faction are likely to begin considering options for a consensus candidate for the GCB presidency, so as to ensure that GCB’s place at the CWI table is not vacant. To have a functioning CWI Board without the presence of Guyana would be perilous for this nation’s cricket. Matters relating to the allocation of tours, series, tournaments, resources etc are deliberated on at the board level, and every territorial board relies heavily on representation at this level.

Guyana’s cricket, therefore, has entered a period of uncertainty and fragility with the Skerritt Presidency. It more than likely is for the better. However, as the untenable situation of the GCB not having elections for over half-a-decade cannot continue indefinitely. The Skerritt Presidency, therefore, may mean some difficult days in the immediate future for Guyana’s cricket, but it will likely lead to the settling of old, protracted differences, and an end to the bitter fight for control of Guyana’s cricket. Governance, a sore matter in Guyana’s cricket, in the not too distant future, is likely to improve leaps and bounds with Skerritt at the helm of the regional body.