WICB president by September

The Special meeting to select the next president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will take place in September.

“The meeting will have to be by September for the latest to pick a new president of the WICB, because the International Cricket Council (ICC) have their major yearly meeting in October and the WICB will want to have their elected leader in place. “Also under the constitution, the WICB need to give a 30-day notice period so there will be announcements in the next few days indicating the date of the meeting. It could be in Barbados or Antigua, depending on a number of factors,” he added. The delay in setting a date has been caused by the scheduling of several World Cup committee meetings at the end of July and early August. “Unfortunately what has happened, is that there were already a lot of World Cup meetings planned following the AGM held in Dominica, so that these matters had to be sorted out first  before anything else could have been done,” the source noted. Some officials are of the view that Val Banks, the current acting president should accept the top job, It would mean there would also need to be elections for a new vice-president, so that also has to be examined,” he said.

Questions have also arisen concerning Val Banks, who is both the vice-president and acting president. “Will he have two votes or one vote in the meeting? It would mean that only 13 votes will decide the presidency unlike previous years,” the source said. “We understand that the Jamaicans are concerned that Wes Hall, because he has not been replaced as yet, could be asked to make that 14th vote, given Bank’s predicament,” the source said. Each of the six cricket associations — Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados, Windward Islands and Leeward Islands — have two votes each. The president and vice-president have one vote each. The current executive of the West Indies Cricket Board (Stephen Alleyne of Barbados, Richard De Souza of Trinidad and Tobago, Chetram Singh of Guyana and Val Banks of the Leeward Islands) are understood to be meeting about their next move. This, following the shooting down of their proposed candidate Chetram Singh because he was a bookmaker in his native Guyana and could not have taken his place on the ICC because of the gambling link.  The special meeting is being called after the the failure of the Annual General Meeting in July to pick a replacement for Wes Hall. Both candidates, Willie Rodriguez of Trinidad and Tobago and Chetram Singh had earlier declined.