PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – A former Cricket West Indies chief executive hopes the election of Ricky Skerritt and Dr Kishore Shallow brings much-needed “breath of fresh air” and provides respite from the conflict which has riddled the administration of the game in the region.
Trinidadian Bruce Aanensen, who spent six months as CEO in 2007, said he was happy with the change in the CWI top posts, pointing out that Skerritt and Shallow were now ideally placed to effect change in the organisation.
“I am very happy because I don’t think Mr Cameron should have been returned. I think it’s high time that somebody else gets an opportunity to move West Indies cricket forward,” Aanensen told the Newsday here.
“I think the pair of Ricky Skerritt and Kishore Shallow is a good [one]. Hopefully they would get down to the job and not allow divisiveness to prevail but rather to size up the situation.”
He continued: “There will be changes to be made but I just hope that whatever they do is done in the best interest of West Indies cricket. There [has] been too much fighting in West Indies cricket over the last few years.
“I’m just hoping that this is a breath of fresh air and we can see some more positive leadership and better relationships with all the stakeholders in West Indies cricket.”
Skerritt toppled controversial three-term incumbent, Dave Cameron, for the position of president at the CWI annual general meeting in Kingston last Sunday while Shallow defeated vice-president Emmanuel Nanthan.
And in a series of media interviews following, Skerritt said they were anxious to begin a roll-out of their 10-point Cricket First Plan, which they said would make cricket once gain the central focus of the administration.
Aanensen agreed with the move, noting that the new administration could mark “the dawn of a new era.
“I think the immediate focus should be back to cricket. They need to focus more on grassroots cricket,” the experienced businessman said.
“They need to heal all the rifts that exist at the moment and they need to try to get the boards in the various regions operating in conjunction with [CWI] so that everybody is reading from the same page.
“[They need to] see if they can bring some togetherness again to West Indies cricket. If people are happy, they would perform better. This could be the dawn of a new era. I’m hoping that is so.”
