While describing the roadblock faced by Cricket West Indies (CWI) at a recent shareholders meeting as unfortunate, former president Dave Cameron also expressed skepticism about the feasibility of governance reform within CWI under the current structure.

Cameron’s comments came as he weighed in on the absence of representatives from the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), which halted progress on implementing recommendations from the 2020 Wehby report as a quorum was not met.

The GCB and BCA subsequently stated their rejection of the Wehby report—drafted by Jamaican business mogul Don Wehby—and objection to CWI’s failure to facilitate a discussion on changing the system of appointing a president.

“I wanted reform; some of us wanted reform, but how does that reform take shape, and how do you get the men in the room to vote themselves off the organisation with a different structure? That is the question, and I can see (current president) Kishore (Shallow) is still struggling with that to find the answer,” Cameron said on the Mason and Guest cricket radio show.

Cameron also criticized the decision to call a meeting to vote on the Wehby report, given the resistance from key stakeholders.

“If you realised you had such opposition, why would you make this a public situation? Continue to negotiate and discuss it, but don’t make it a public debate and call an AGM extraordinary meeting to get this done when you knew that shareholders were uncomfortable with the position. It’s a very, very unfortunate situation but a very difficult one to address,” he added.

During the show, Pedro Greaves, a director of the BCA, offered a detailed explanation of his association’s reservations about the Wehby report. He revealed that the BCA had enlisted legal experts, including former Barbados Chief Justice Sir David Simmons, to evaluate the recommendations.

“There are flaws in the assumptions of the Wehby report, which seeks to take away the ownership of the territorial boards and the voice of the territorial boards... removing CWI directors from advising the president when it goes to ICC meetings, etc. These are things that come out in the Wehby report,” Greaves explained.

One of the BCA’s key concerns is the current system of electing the CWI president, which Greaves argued disrupts the governance of West Indies cricket.

“What we are saying is that elections are hurting Cricket West Indies. When two parents are arguing, the children are who suffer. And in this case, the players are the ones that are suffering...when they see the various boards campaigning against each other...making promises, and it upsets the actual governance of West Indies cricket. So what we are saying is that we want to have a discussion,” he stated.

Greaves pointed out that the BCA has proposed a rotation system for the presidency as an alternative, emphasizing that accountability should focus on the operational team rather than elected leadership.

“Who the president or vice-president is should not really matter once we hold the operational team accountable for what is happening in Cricket West Indies, and that is what we have tabled and that is what we are asking for discussion,” Greaves declared.

Despite the missed meeting, Greaves reiterated the BCA’s commitment to finding solutions for West Indies cricket, as he stressed that their actions were not a boycott but a call for meaningful dialogue.

“We want to have a discussion, and if the vote then goes against what we are saying, then so be it. But we have not had the opportunity, having raised it at the last special AGM on March 23, 2024,” Greaves ended.