PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) – Former Cricket West Indies president, Ken Gordon, has endorsed the current regional governing body’s head, Ricky Skerritt, as “absolutely the right man” to lead the organisation and says he has brought a renewed optimism to West Indies cricket.

The Trinidadian business magnate, who ran the then West Indies Cricket Board between 2005 and 2007, said while there were massive challenges facing West Indies cricket, Skerritt possessed the necessary leadership skills to confront those issues.

“Ricky Skerritt is the reason why I’m more optimistic about cricket now than I’ve been for 10 years,” Gordon told i95 FM Sports.

“I think we have absolutely the right man. Mistakes are going to be made given where we’ve come from but I think we’re very fortunate to have Ricky Skerritt at this time. He’s taking it one step at a time.”

He added: “The reality is if you’ve got the right leader anything is possible. It’s not obvious and it’s not going to happen easily but if you can set standards and build an environment and keep doing the right thing, you’re going to get a lot of licks but that’s what makes the difference between ultimate success and failure.”

Skerritt, a former St Kitts and Nevis cabinet minister, stunned three-term incumbent Dave Cameron in elections staged in Jamaica in March last year, to take over the helm of the governing body.

However, Skerritt has found himself presiding over a cash-strapped CWI, and the situation was made even worse this year with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which has forced the cessation of cricket across the globe.

In the face of declining revenues, CWI announced last month it would slash staff and player salaries by 50 per cent starting from July, in an effort to stay afloat.

Gordon, who oversaw the Caribbean’s hosting of the historic 2007 Cricket World Cup, said the issue of financing the organisation would be a “huge challenge” but believed Skerritt’s expertise would prove vital.

“You don’t get anything that is important easily and you have to make hard decisions, and that’s why it is so important to have the right man in there now,” Gordon stressed.

“How far the new president is going to be able to persuade people to face up to that, is a huge challenge but it’s a challenge that doesn’t lend itself to compromise because you can’t make the money. 

“I repeat, I’m more optimistic now than I’ve been for the last 10 years because I think for a change we have somebody who’s going to try to do the right thing.”

He added: “I’m not suggesting to you he’s on a bed of roses at all but … I’m hearing good sounds from around him, some of the past players are now coming out to say he’s doing the right thing. 

“Maybe all of that will swing public opinion. He has to make his own moves, he has to react to some of the openings that he gets, he has to be a diplomat, he has to be a financier and he has to pray.”

Skerritt, along with new vice-president, Dr Kishore Shallow, have made several major changes since taking over the board, overhauling the selection structure and changing the management personnel of the representative teams.

However, the performance of the senior men’s team has remained inconsistent and Gordon said it was an area Skerritt needed to address.

“We have to solve the problem of our team. We’ve got one or two promising people but the reality is it is our consistency that is bringing us down and it’s because we’ve done so little development of the mind,” Gordon noted.

“I think this is one of the things that Ricky will have to confront in a very serious way.”