No comparison to Ganguly, Cameron says
EX-WEST INDIES BOSS SETS OUT HIS AGENDA IF ELECTED
Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron, former president of Cricket West Indies (CWI) is the only official to have made his plans public to run for the post of chairman of International Cricket Council (ICC) to succeed India’s Shashank Manohar. However, the Jamaican who is unlikely to garner the support of his own board for the nominations, is under no illusions.
The ICC is expected to announce the guidelines for the elections by next week, but the world governing body of cricket may not be exactly in a hurry to do so as their Annual General Meeting scheduled to be held in Cape Town later this month, has been postponed with the global travel restrictions yet to be eased due to the coronavirus pandemic.
While Imran Khwaja, the erstwhile vice-chairman to Manohar, is now officiating ever since the latter’s resignation on July 1, the two names which have been doing the rounds as frontrunners are that of Colin Graves (chairman of England & Wales Cricket Board) and Sourav Ganguly, the charismatic former Indian captain and now president of the Indian board.
World cricket has to change the way it’s run now. My agenda will be to make cricket a global sport with 200 countries playing it.” Dave Cameron (above) » Former CWI president
Awesome character
“Let me admit that I am no comparison to Ganguly. If ‘Dada’ eventually decides to announce his candidature, he will get Asia’s support and he has been an awesome character for the things he has done for the sport. However, if he is not in the running, then it will be a great opportunity for me,” said a candid Cameron, the 49-year-old who was served at the helm of West Indies cricket for six years between 2013 and 2019.
Speaking to Gulf News during an exclusive interview over phone from Jamaica on Friday, Cameron
reserved strong words of praise for Manohar. “I would like congratulate him (Manohar) as he followed an ideal during his tenure. If there was any difference in opinion in the board, he always wanted us to come around through discussion,” he said, before adding that it’s not possible to win a popularity contest if one is in a position of power.
“I believe in the theory that everyone starts liking you in a position of responsibility, then there’s something wrong in you while if everyone starts hating you, then also you are not getting it right. However, I had been running businesses since the age of 22 years and have the experience in manmanagement,” he said.
What would be Cameron’s agenda should he be given a chance to govern world cricket? ‘‘See, world cricket has to change the way it’s run now. My agenda will be to make cricket a truly global sport with 200 countries playing it, not 104 (the current number of members).”