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Last Updated on Sunday, 4 October 2015, 2:45 by GxMedia
Steve Camacho
“The Government of Guyana hopes that Camacho’s legacy of grace, humility and unyielding respect for the regional sport will serve as guideposts to those who have been entrusted with the management of the game.”
Camacho was 69.
He died in Antigua on Saturday, September 3 after a battle with cancer.
Camacho is a former Guyana and West Indies opening batsman, West Indies Team Manager and selector and the then West Indies Cricket Board of Control (WICBC) Chief Executive Officer, Board Secretary and administrator.
The Guyana government extended “deepest condolences” to his wife, Allison and family and his many relatives and friends in Guyana, across the Caribbean and the world.
Camacho distinguished himself as one of the finest and most widely respected cricket administrators in the region., having been the first full time employee of the WICBC, the predecessor to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The St. Stanislaus College’s Alumni Association in Toronto says Camacho served as the then Guyana Cricket Board of Control (GCBC) representative on the then WICBC from 1977 to 1981 before taking up the post of Secretary/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the WICB from 1982-2000 before tendering his resignation.
Nine days shy of his 70th birthday at the time of his passing, Camacho served as CEO for 18 years and also as Board Secretary. “With a quiet demeanor and exuding elegance Camacho was widely admired, respected and loved in the cricket fraternity and further afield,” said the government.
During his playing career Camacho played 11 Test matches for the West Indies and represented the then British Guiana and subsequently Guyana after independence. Camacho scored seven first class centuries and 24 half centuries, debuting for the West Indies against England in 1968. His highest Test score was 87, scored against England in Trinidad during his debut series.
He represented St. Stanislaus College in local cricket for five years and in his last year at school was captain of cricket. He played for the Guyana Colts against Australia in 1964 and hit a brilliant 157 and later earned his place as an opening batsman for the West Indies.
After his retirement from playing, Camacho initially lived in Barbados while he served as a WICBC administrator and subsequently in Antigua where he had settled and where he passed away Saturday morning after a brief period of declining health.