Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) incumbent President Wilford “Billy” Heaven has defended the work of his administration even as his detractors point to what they claim is the sport’s lack of development.

Heaven, set to be challenged at the polls by his first vice-president Dr Donovan Bennett during the JCA annual general meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston on Thursday, told TVJ Sports last week that there have been gains during his leadership.

And, in a recent letter to member clubs and parishes, Bennett explained his decision to challenge for presidency and provided an outline of plans to improve Jamaica cricket, should he be elected.

Heaven in his television interview asserted that while results on the field have not always been favourable, the JCA’s adherence to tax regulations is just one of the strides his administration has made to improve the association’s financial standing.

“We have turned around the plant in a way… we perhaps have the strongest governance framework in sports,” he said. “Our transparency, our accountability, our compliance, is second to none,” he said.

“It depends on how people measure success within an organisation. We believe that we need to bring the cricket up to a level, but that’s where the focus is right now because we’ve sorted out all the other areas effectively.”

Heaven, the chief executive officer of the State-run CHASE Fund, is looking to become the country’s cricket boss for a fifth-straight term. He has been at the JCA helm for over a decade.

He defeated Milton Henry for the top job in 2013, then turned back the challenges of Fritz Harris in 2016 and Mark Neita in 2019. He was returned unopposed in 2021.

Some critics argue that the biggest shortcoming during Heaven’s tenure had been his conspicuous back-bench approach when news broke last year that the Jamaican Government had failed to bid to host matches at the Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the United States this June.

Bizarrely, his vice-president Bennett had been the voice of the JCA’s distress call as the extended deadline for bids flew by. Bennett raked the Government over the coals for not bidding, and publicly figuratively slapped the Parliamentary Opposition for being just “as culpable” in the debacle.

Additionally, Heaven’s detractors have pointed to a series of miserable campaigns, particularly in the regional four-day competition, which a Jamaica team has not won for over a decade.

In the just-ended 2024 regional four-day competition, Jamaica Scorpions, playing at home, Sabina Park, throughout, placed sixth in the eight-team competition, losing five of their seven games.

Despite the gloom, the Jamaica franchise performed outstandingly to lift the 2022 regional Men’s Super50 Cup.

There has also been criticism about the JCA’s commitment to developing girls’ and women’s cricket. But while there has been a sparsity of women’s cricket locally, the senior team was dominant in claiming the regional Super50 and Twenty20 (T20) double this year.

Previously, the women had clinched the 2022 T20 title and finished second in the Super50 only to place fourth in both tournaments in 2023.

Despite talk of deficiency in development programmes, a massive highlight for the Heaven administration came last summer when Jamaica won the regional Under-19 50-over and three-day double, the country’s first such triumph since 2010.

However, only a month ago, the national Under-15 team performed dismally, failing to win a game in the 2024 regional tournament.

Heaven has indicated that the second part of a two-pronged approach would be to specifically target cricket development if he is re-elected.

“We have to balance out the success on the field of play with the ability to fund the cricket [development],” he argued.

He said focus would not only be placed on development of cricketers but the specialised training of other people involved in the sport, including coaches, officials and ground staff.

Bennett, the chairman of the Cricket West Indies medical panel, previously told the Jamaica Observer that the country’s decline as a cricketing force in the region is the main reason for him throwing his hat in the ring.

More recently, in a letter dated April 7, 2024 which was addressed to member clubs and parishes, Bennett said the decision to challenge Heaven “was not an easy one, or one that was lightly made”.

Bennett, who promised he would be a “transformational leader”, said his mind was made up after he was urged by “individuals and stakeholders across the cricket fraternity and the general Jamaican landscape”. He said “the realisation and admittance that Jamaica’s cricket was far too important to be considered dormant by many” was a pulling factor.

Bennett said, if elected, there would be focus on transparency and open dialogue with members and stakeholders in decision-making processes.

He said he would unite “the cricket family” through strategic engagement as well as restore “the programmes, competitions and practices that were successful in achieving required outcomes in the past”.

He said he envisaged the expansion of competitions and programmes to drive the growth of the sport, with “particular focus on skills and personal development, improvement of grounds and general infrastructure” as well as the exploration of greater revenue earning opportunities.