Party support is given in sport in almost every country where it leaves.
For the upcoming West Indies Cricket (CWI), though, Guyanese should go against the grain.
When longtime local administrator Anand Sanasie challenges Kittitian Ricky Skerritt for the body’s presidency on Sunday, there are tons of reasons why Guyanese should root against him.
Hyperbole aside, Sanasie’s leadership style has been tainted by autocracy which, along with negative personal baggage, has been detrimental to the sport, during his long reign as chief administrator.
Although he was never elected President of the Guyana Cricket Board, anyone guesses why Sanasie, the designated secretary, exercises so much power in the corridors of his Regent Street mall.
Any local opinion poll would encourage supporters to name presumed presidents within the last 10 years.
Faizal Bacchus and before him Dru Bahadur follow Ramsey Ali, all sitting in the presidency seat, and yet Sanasie’s stamp is almost all decision-making information disseminated in those times.
He has been Guyana’s foremost representative at the West Indies Board meetings continuously as if no one else could shoulder such responsibility.
Berbice Cricket Board at least, the most productive of three affiliates in the County would think otherwise.
And not just because that county has felt the wrath of GCB’s divisive leadership, looking back at Sanasie’s style.
For years Berbice’s board presidents have complained about withholding funding, subsidies it so describes, for reasons that cannot be justified by any law in the constitution of the national governing body.
It was never properly explained by Sanasie’s mouthpiece, because nothing is justified under the sun.
For a county that has produced most of Guyana’s top cricketers over the years from Kanhai to Hetmeyer, who is denied much-needed developmental funding, it is the work of someone not involved in the growth of the sport, rather his ego instead.
If you disagree that you are a victim and were it not for a few strong inventive Berbice leaders, it is a good guess where the sport would be today.
And that reality would have been hitting us hard now had it not been for the attempts to deny BCB president Hilbert Foster’s current opportunity to become president two elections ago.
Ironically, similar skeptical tactics have been directed by Sanasie at Skerritt in recent days as the construction of the elections is exposed by desperate movements reminiscent of American politics.
And yet, had he been in such a fight, the Guyanese would have been under pressure to survive given his reputation in and out of cricket circles.
It would be interesting to have his Barbadian vice president running friend Calvin Hope decide to join someone who has been hauled before the courts on several grounds.
It led to high-level politicians at the time calling for Sanasie’s resignation and a subsequent bid for Government influenced the takeover of the Board’s operations with efforts to install that Interim Management Committee (IMG) back in 2012.
Sanasie has somehow survived, including the bizarre postponement of GCB elections last month when the current executive was about to be overthrown.
Thus the Board’s divide and conquer style has continued as whoever disagrees with the de facto President’s demands is permanently marginalized.
It doesn’t matter if you were a former player with a lot of wisdom to share with young players ala Sir Clive Lloyd, the late Basil Butcher, Clyde Butts, Roger Harper, Mark Harper or Neil Barry.
At times of time when teams had no designated coaches, players were tutored by the older skilled who proved to be highly successful. Our current crop of players is currently left at the mercy of hand-selected individuals with little or no achievements handling GCB franchise teams in local competitions that provide greater opportunities or less, for them to perfect their faults.
Club competition, the backbone of domestic structures that hires the talents of players with vital input from retired batters and bowlers from competing teams, lacks GCB support here, especially in Demerara County.
Gone are the times when a Case Cup first division series in Demerara and its Davson Cup equivalent in Berbice as well as Northcote lower divisions and a White Cup debut helped Guyana become a talent powerhouse supplier to the Indian sides of the Dream Team West dominated the world in the late 1970s to mid-1980s. The competition now in Georgetown has been reduced to two-day low tournaments. In the West Demerara, East Coast and East Bank areas that include the other area associations in Demerara, you will be amazed at the best side of finding a lot of organized competition.
Despite Guyana winning five straight four-day Divisional titles in recent years, under which Sanasie prides itself on his watch, the substandard competition offered resulted in unbroken local players at international level for India West. It explains why there is none in the first Test against Sri Lanka.
In his criticism of incumbent Skerritt’s term of office, Sanasie claims that revenue streams have dried up, but in typical doubles, the GCB secretary failed to recognize the many broadcast deals that CWI announced had been clinking worldwide in recent weeks.
Fans in America enjoy TV broadcasts in all home series and international domestic games through ESPN Plus, BT Sport in the United Kingdom, Africa has Super Sun Sport, in New Zealand it’s Sky TV while here Flow Sport Caribbean and radio broadcasts via Vibes Radio Dominica keeps fans tuned.
So far Sanasie has surpassed Skerritt in campaigning around the Region, so the latter would do well to reveal the financial details of those bargains.
No previous Board tenure has ever achieved so much in one fell swoop, in that context, which should generate a huge income stream given its importance in today’s sport.
During the reign of former CWI President Dave Cameron who relied heavily on Sanasie’s influence, such deals were minimal and the lack of income he was complaining about had now begun, which led to the loss vital West Indies academy.
In unveiling his plan to find funding by establishing a base at the financial powerhouse in India and reviving kiddies cricket as well as putting more emphasis in the women’s game, if elected, Sanasie has good talking points.
And yet, if such schemes take place under the leadership of a new CWI, it would amount to nothing under the leadership of an individual who is primarily concerned with the power he is gaining.