Skerritt anticipates small steps in rankings in year two
March 24, 2020 marked one year since Ricky Skerritt was elected president of Cricket West Indies, unseating the then incumbent Dave Cameron by an 8-4 vote.
Twelve months into the role, Skerritt said his team has been working on building a strong, productive, transparent and accountable system of governance.
In an interview on The Morning Shot on Trinidad’s CNC3 this week, Skerritt also touched on the little movement the various teams have made on the ICC World Rankings, despite some key personnel changes within the last year.
“At no time did we promise a change in rankings within 12 months. Obviously nothing that we do, however long, will have any sustainable impact without significant growth in performance and a rise up the ladder in the rankings. We’re very aware of that,” Skerritt explained.
“If at the end of the day I leave this office with a much more transparent and accountable organisation that is doing a better job, that pales in comparison to the need for that better job to result in better cricket performances on the field.”
Under Skerritt, Coach Richard Pybus lost his job to Floyd Reifer, who was appointed Coach on an interim basis, while Head Coach Phil Simmons and senior players Kieron Pollard and Dwayne made a return to the maroons.
“The ultimate objective is getting teams performing at their best in the various types of cricket, male and female, and resulting in a significant improvement up the ladder, to be at least in the top five. I don’t see that happening in the second year either. I see us beginning to make the move up the ladder in the second year, but it won’t be jumps of more than one steps at a time,” Skerritt reasoned.
“Right now we’re not focusing on that; we’re focusing on getting the organisation to be strong, transparent, accountable and productive.”
The current ICC Men’s Rankings have West Indies at eighth in Tests, ninth in ODIs and 10th in T20s. On the Women’s side, West Indies are ranked sixth in both ODIs and T20s.