Rodriguez Pulls Out of WICB Race

Former West Indies Test all-rounder Willie Rodriguez has opted out of the race for president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Rodriguez, who was nominated by the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), yesterday informed Jackie Hendricks, president of the JCA, that he is withdrawing from the contest.

This leaves the door open for Guyanese Chetram Singh to be formalised as the new head, at the Board?s annual general meeting in Rosseau, Dominica, on the weekend.

The position was made vacant in June, when Rev Wes Hall announced that he was stepping down because of medical problems.

The Board subsequently met and identified Singh as their preferred candidate - a move that has been condemned in some quarters.

Among the members of the WICB were Trinidad and Tobago?s Richard De Souza and Ellis Lewis.

Since then the TTCB, through its president Alloy Lequay has taken a ?moral? stand to support the Guyanese.

Calls for the TTCB to support Rodriguez failed to move Lequay who gave several reasons why Singh was his Board?s choice.

The veteran administrator said because De Souza was a member of the WICB?s executive which supported Singh, he was morally bound to follow suit.

He said that on June 5, he received a telephone call from Hendricks, who informed him the JCA was considering nominating Rodriguez.

He added that on June 9, he advised Hendricks that De Souza had made a commitment to the WICB executive members to support Singh and Val Banks for the offices of president and vice-president, respectively.

A source close to Rodriguez said that even if the insurance executive was to gain last-minute support and win the election, he was not guaranteed support from the current executive members of the WICB.

?These people met in a closed shop session to support Singh. So Rodriguez would be seen as an intruder and would not be guaranteed full support from them. That is what our cricket has come to.

?It makes little sense for Rodriguez to become president and find that he has no support in the WICB. Given the fragile nature of West Indies cricket, Rodriguez would be the last person to want that. He is still committed to West Indies cricket and president or not, will be willing to play his part in making sure that the 2007 World Cup is a success.?

* From Trinidad Guardian