Tony Becca, Contributor

During the 1970s to the 1980s, the consensus in West Indies cricket was, barring something unforeseen, when the time came around, the West Indies would have the ideal man waiting to be the president of the board. That man would be Clive Lloyd.

He was the captain, the leader of the world-champion team. He was one of the best captains the West Indies had ever had, probably better than Garry Sobers and arguably as great as Frank Worrell.

He was respected wherever he went - by his teammates as well as by the opposition. Every one loved Clive Lloyd, and they all saw him as the future leader of West Indies cricket.

Clive Lloyd was groomed, so to speak, serving on various committees of the International Cricket Conference.

Things, however, did not go according to plan.

At his first attempt, Lloyd lost out in his bid for the presidency because he did not reside in the West Indies, and that was understandable.

Now, on his second attempt, he has lost again, this time only God knows why.

Maybe it is because he served as coach and as manager of the West Indies team on a few occasions and in neither position did he distinguish himself.

Maybe it was because, in two series - against Australia in 1996-97, and South Africa in 1998-99 - he appeared timid in his dealings with the players.

Maybe, it was probably because he was given the reins too early after his career as a player was over, and maybe it was probably because he had accomplished so much as a player, as a leader, that people were looking for something with which to pull him down a peg or two.

Whatever it was, he obviously lost a little in the years that followed.

Subsequent to that, problems in his domestic life must have affected this his second run for the presidency.

Either that or it is something else why no one wanted to second his nomination. After all, he now resides in his native country of Guyana, at least for most of the time.

Trinidad and Tobago's refusal to second his nomination by saying that the TTCBC wanted to remain neutral is nothing more than an excuse.

The West Indies is a small region. In the last 13 years, it has had a number of presidents, it hardly has anybody with the combination of excellence in cricket experience, and business knowledge who wants the job, and something must be wrong with a region whose cricket is not doing well, which spends so much money on people in cricket, and whose cricket needs serious rethinking for someone of Lloyd's credentials to be so summarily dismissed.

It is also said that Lloyd is paying for speaking against the board, for leaving the board when he was a member, and for sitting on the wrong side during the dispute between the Guyana Board and the government.

It would be a sad day if he was snubbed because of all that, if West Indies cricket was second to people's selfish ambitions.

Clive Lloyd may not have turned out to be a great president, but because of his cricketing experience, because of the manner in which he did his job as a cricketer, he is second to none.

He deserved a chance. Something must be seriously wrong in West Indies cricket.

It will not be Lloyd, and the next question is, who will it be, will it be Julian Hunte, or will it be Dave Cameron?

Good public relations officer

Hunte has been a good public relations officer for West Indies cricket, he has done reasonable well for West Indies cricket. With the employment of Otis Gibson as coach over the Australians, he has made a good move, the coming of Kieran Powell and Darren Bravo has been good signs, and so too the winning of the World T20, to a point.

If, however, he was doing a wonderful job as president, how come, in a region as biased politically as this one is, a representative from his home territory of the Windward Islands did not nominate or second him for the post as president?

Indeed, the member from the Windward Islands is running against Hunte, from the Windward Islands, for the post as vice-president to Dave Cameron.

And Cameron, the Jamaican vice-president, going for the presidency and supported by Jamaica, said, for all to hear, that cricket was interfering with his defacto job.

Something strange is happening in West Indies cricket.

It must also be remembered that when Hunte sought his third term, he had promised to support Cameron for the position next time around.

Is it a time for the post of president to move around once again, is it a post for one of the boys, or is it that West Indies cricket is of little importance and not as important as to who is the president?

The business of West Indies cricket has always, most times, been decided by Jamaica and Guyana against Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago with the rush for the support of the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands.

This time, however, Hunte of the Windward Islands is being supported by the Leeward Islands and Barbados, Cameron of Jamaica is being supported by the Windward Islands, the territory of Hunte, and by his own territory of Jamaica, with Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana neutral.

Something else is also strange. Why are Hunte and Cameron locked in a vote for the big job, the big prize?

The West Indies Board rules call for a two-year term, it also calls for the president to stay on for four years, and if he wants another term he must seek the approval of the other members.

Hunte has now finished three terms, Cameron served three terms as Hunte's deputy. Hunte says he is running because influential people in the region have asked him to, and Cameron says he is running because Hunte had said he would not be running and he, Cameron, had said that he would be running.

It is as simple as that, no thought if the presidency of the West Indies Cricket Board will affect his job.

For my money, Clive Lloyd is the man for the job at this time. West Indies cricket would take on a new lease on life with him as the head.

Hunte has done his best and has had his time, and Cameron, just like Hunte, is not Lloyd, no way.

The West Indies Board will end up on March 27 with not the best man for the job because of the politics of West Indies cricket. It is so parochial that to a lot of its board members, West Indies cricket will simply have to suffer for at least another term, until, hopefully, Clive Lloyd tries again.

For now, who will it be, Hunte or Cameron, two men who guided West Indies cricket to its present stage?

I do not know, but of the two, I think it will be Hunte, despite his earlier promise.

I wonder what the rest of the world is saying now. Are they laughing at the West Indies, or are they in sympathy with the West Indies, once the best cricketers in the world, once the best team in the world, and once ruled by men like Jeffrey Stollmeyer and Allan Rae?