JCA has decided, but no results yet

The Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) has decided who it will support in Sunday’s Cricket West Indies election for president, but the results of a vote taken on Monday remain a closely guarded secret.

JCA director, Dr Donovan Bennett, told The Gleaner yesterday that the results should be available before Sunday’s vote.

“The two candidates came and made presentations to us (JCA), and both presentations were credible. We then sent the members home to consult their constituents. They then had voting yesterday (Monday), and all the 21 members voted for a candidate, but I have no results to give. I haven’t heard how the vote went,” he disclosed.

Bennett admitted that Cricket West Indies president, Jamaican Dave Cameron, had an advantage when he and St Kitts and Nevis’ Ricky Skerritt made presentations to the JCA last Thursday, but the JCA director said nationality cannot be the main or deciding factor in choosing the president of the region’s cricket board.

“This is a Caribbean matter, and we have the largest population in the Caribbean, we have to set the example. We have to cut the insularity,” he stated. “Every Caribbean island is in it together. So if we are insular, then there is no point in having a West Indies team. We don’t have a selector for Jamaica on the (West Indies) selection committee, yet we have six people in T20 and five in the One-Day International team. Suppose those selectors say they are going to be insular and don’t pick any Jamaicans, what would happen?” Bennett added.

He said that it is now left to secretary Diahann Campbell to present the results of the vote and that he anticipates this will happen before Sunday.

“We hired a very reputable person, who usually conducts our election. They actually send out the ballots, receive them, and count them. We don’t have any results (now), and I am not going to predict what will happen. But the results have to be known by Sunday,” Bennett said.