CWI deems Guyana’s situation ‘troubling’ but willing to assist

By Akeem Greene

In light of the High Court ruling on April 3 which deemed the executive committee of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) illegal, Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Ricky Skerritt has expressed deep concern, calling the situation “troubling.”

 “The Guyana situation is troubling; it is a little awkward,” Skerritt, who was recently elected, told a press conference in Antigua.

“At the moment, it is riddled with uncertainty”, he added,

However, he said CWI is willing to lend the necessary support.

Skerritt was questioned by News Room Sport on whether the High Court ruling will have an impact on Guyana’s participation in West Indies cricket.

There have been reports that the Regional Under-19 tournament in July and the India One Day Internationals would be pulled from Guyana because of “illegal board.”

However, the president did not confirm or deny this. Instead, he said CWI wants to see Guyana’s continued active involvement in West Indies cricket.

“At our board meeting on Tuesday (April 9), it was made clear that we will continue to welcome Guyana age teams and we will do whatever we can to get the Guyana teams involved in our cricket.

“As soon as we can get more details on the actual legal judgement without anyway interfering or being in conflict of court, we will do everything we can to facilitate youth development through cricket, but we will take it under advisement, and we will take it one step at a time”, Skerritt stated.

Currently, Guyana’s National Under-15 team is in Antigua for the West Indies championship.

However, the definitive way in which the new CWI management interacts with Guyana is still to be decided since they want further clarity on the legal situation.

“We are setting a deadline by which we need to have clarity, that deadline is still a little bit away.

“…but (for) the people of Guyana, the cricket lovers of Guyana…our job is to ensure cricket continues wherever we can in the interest of West Indies cricket.

“We are going to do everything we can to make sure actual cricket can be played everywhere, and obviously the Guyana situation needs to sort itself out and will do whatever we can to assist,” Skerritt stated.

News Room understands that the current group of executives of the Board cannot hold themselves out to be office bearers or perform functions of the Board.

The matter was brought before High Court Judge Justice Fidela Corbin by Attorney Arudranauth Gossai on behalf of Secretary of the Berbice Cricket Board Rabindranauth Saywack, who claimed that the GCB was operating in contravention of the Guyana Cricket Administration Act established in 2014.

When questioned on the status of the GCB, given that elections have not been held in close to a decade, Skerritt had declared to News Room Sport in an exclusive interview: “It won’t be business as usual on the Guyana issue.”