TEDDY GRIFFITH, a retired banking and business executive with a strong playing and administrative record in the game, became the first nominee as new president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) presidency on Wednesday night.

Griffith, 67, was put forward by the board of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) to fill the post vacated because of ill health by Rev. Wes Hall at the WICB’s annual general meeting in Dominica last month.

He gained an 8-3 majority over former BCA president, Tony Marshall.

One board member, who requested anonymity, said the BCA expected support for Griffith at the special election meeting in Antigua on September 30 from at least other member boards Jamaica, the Leewards, the Windwards and Trinidad and Tobago. None of the other boards has yet nominated a contender.

It is the second attempt to find Hall’s successor.

Long-serving Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) president and executive committee member Chetram Singh, the sole nominee at the original meeting in Dominica, withdrew at the last minute under pressure over of his involvement in a bookmaking business in Georgetown. It would have debarred him from representing the WICB at meetings of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

To be eligible for election, a candidate must be nominated by two territorial boards, in writing to the WICB not later than August 31.

Griffith, a dashing left-handed opening batsman and medium-pace bowler, started his first-class career in 1954 while at Harrison College before emigrating to Jamaica for whom he played 23 matches between 1961 and 1967.

A graduate of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus, he headed several companies in Jamaica and was secretary of the Barbados Central Bank and manager of the Barbados National Bank.

He chaired the committee that drafted the WICB’s five-year development plan in 1993 and subsequently served on the marketing committee.

Griffith’s father, Herman, was the renowned Barbados and West Indies fast bowler in the 1920s and 1930s. His elder brother, Harold, also represented Barbados.

In the original election, Barbados joined with Jamaica in backing Willie Rodriguez, the former Trinidad and Tobago captain and West Indies all-rounder, against Singh. But Rodriguez pulled out of the race days before the Dominica meeting.

Val Banks, the Anguillan banker who was re-elected vice-president in Dominica, is acting as president until the September 30 meeting.