Butcher plugs for Lloyd to be WICB president

By Rajiv Bisnauth –

Former West Indies middle-order batsman, Basil Butcher believes that the time has come for former West Indies captain and legend Clive Lloyd to play a more prominent role in the administration of the regional game.
From the peaceful confines of his home in the mining town of Linden, Butcher told Guyana Times International Sport via telephone on Monday that Lloyd, as captain, presided over the transformation of the team from an ordinary side to the best in the world for 15 years. Butcher thinks “Super Cat” Lloyd is ideally equipped to be president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

“He (Lloyd) is qualified, he will not take sides, he served cricket at the highest level, he is the right man to lead West Indies cricket at the moment,” Butcher added.

Home work
Butcher, the 1970 Wisden Cricketer-of-the-Year, opined that the race for the WICB top post is no easy walkover for Lloyd.
“I am urging Lloyd to do his homework, because the present situation is so locked up; you have guys who don’t have the game at heart so they will not support a man like Lloyd, so he needs to do his homework first, if not it’s a waste of time running for such position,” Butcher opined.
With the WICB due to hold its Annual General Meeting on March 27, Lloyd has decided, after numerous calls, to offer his candidacy for the top post in regional cricket. Current president Dr Julian Hunte will be running for an unprecedented fourth term, while his vice president Dave Cameron is also vying for the top post, after it was agreed that he would take over from Dr Hunte, who had previously indicated that he was not going to contest the post.
Lloyd, who skippered the greatest West Indies team, has been credited for the turnaround of West Indies cricket in the late 1970s.
Speaking with Guyana Times International Sport recently via telephone from his New York home, Lloyd said that it is his desire is to be part of West Indies cricket once again if the people in the Caribbean believe he can make a contribution.
The former chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket Committee resigned from his role as non-member director of the WICB last February, citing concerns raised by some officials with regards to his role as head of the government-established Interim Management Committee (IMC) for cricket in Guyana.
Lloyd had also indicated that since the work of the IMC has been completed and the body is to be disbanded in the near future, his desire still remains to run for the WICB top post.
Candidates for the president and vice president can only be nominated and seconded by a full-fledged board member. They first need to clear that hurdle before nomination goes to the ballot of the 14 electors, comprising president, vice president and two each from the territorial boards, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago and Windward Islands.
Lloyd represented the West Indies on the field from 1966 to 1985, after which he served as an administrator from 1990 to February 14, 2012 when he tendered his resignation.
In 1971, he was named Wisden Cricketer-of-the Year. He captained the West Indies between 1974 and 1985 and oversaw their rise to become the dominant Test playing nation, a position that was only relinquished in the latter half of the 1990s. He is one of the most successful Test captains of all time: during his captaincy the side had a run of 27 matches without defeat, which included 11 wins in succession (Viv Richards acted as captain for one of the 27 matches, against Australia at Port of Spain in 1983–84).
He was the first West Indian player to earn 100 international caps. Lloyd captained the West Indies in three World Cups. They won the 1975 final (Lloyd scoring a century) and the 1979 final. They were very strong favourites for the 1983 final but lost to India.
Lloyd was a tall, powerful middle-order batsman and occasional medium pace bowler. In his youth, he was also a strong cover point fielder. He wore his famous glasses as a result of being poked in the eye with a ruler. His Test match debut came in 1966. He scored more than 7500 runs at Test level, at an average of 46.67. He hit 77 sixes in his Test career, which is the sixth highest number of any player.
He played for Guyana in West Indies domestic cricket, and for Lancashire (he was made captain in 1981) in England. He is a cousin of spin bowler Lance Gibbs. Since retiring as a player, Lloyd has remained heavily involved in cricket, managing the West Indies in the late 1990s, and coaching and commentating. He was an ICC match referee from 2001 to 2006.