The move by the current executive of the Dominica Cricket Association (DCA) to dissolve the Board of the Dominica Cricket Academy is causing quite a stir in the local cricketing circles.
The Board of the Academy was giving the axe citing the need for reform and part of the overall restructuring of local cricket.
The Academy, which was the brainchild of former Cricket West Indies vice president, Emmanuel Nantan, made its debut in 2014 and served as a nursery for grooming potential talent.
Since its dissolution, many have suggested that the move was primarily aimed at spiting its founder, who also served as the president of the Dominica Cricket Association for many years. However, DCA boss Glen Joseph has strongly refuted these claims and maintains that there exists a very good relationship between the former president and himself.
“I am not sure as to why one would speculate or even accuse the Board of being on a witch hunt for dissolving the Academy Board. You hear things like I was on a witch hunt against Nantan… Nantan and I share a long life relationship and that was long before anyone of us thought of serving at the helm of cricket in Dominica.
“I have no intention of destroying my relationship with persons, whether through sports, politics, or religion. I have no intention of doing that. Whatever I do in life, I try to do it as clean as possible and with the right motive.
“As a matter of fact, a few days after the Board was dissolved, Nantan and I had a long discussion. We spoke on many things and he assured me of his commitment and his willingness to continue serving cricket. He assured me of his commitment to serving with me in particular in the administration of cricket in Dominica,” Joseph related as he sought to rubbish the claims.
Joseph said that he will not allow his detractors to try to derail the progress that his executive is making.
“So, I know that there are pockets of persons that are trying to destabilize the good things that we are doing for cricket in Dominica. I know that they won’t succeed. We do many good things. We had two good gestures.
“We just gave an electric bed to a gentleman who had been suffering for many years. But people do not talk about that, they will only talk about the negative things. We will put these negative things behind us and move on with the positive. We are going to focus on the positive for that is where we are going to get the results and good results, too,” he further emphasized.