While heaping praise on outgoing Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave, veteran cricket commentator Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira believes the next candidate will have big shoes to fill to ensure that the region’s cricket will be in a better place in years to come.

Perreira, who believes Grave enjoyed a successful tenure since he was appointed in 2017, highlighted the Englishman’s recent vocal advocacy for more funding from the ICC. Grave is set to depart the post in October.

“I think he’s had a long run as CEO in the Caribbean. On behalf of the West Indies Board, he has overseen many negotiations and many tours. Of late, he’s been talking about the poor financial cake and the small amount of money the West Indies have been getting from the ICC,” Reds said in an interview with Barbados TODAY.

“But I think he probably feels that he’s going to look down where he wants to maybe have his final job, whether it’s an English county, where his children can be educated. And I suppose it’s that time where he feels that he’s exhausted all his energy. He’s fulfilled, in his opinion, all what he could do for the West Indies Cricket Board, and it is time to move on,” he opined.

That said, Perreira pointed out that the new CEO must build on the work started by Grave, especially in the area of addressing the financial imbalance in the global game, a theme that was also taken up in recent weeks by former West Indies captain Sir Clive Lloyd.

He also stressed that the mandate of Grave’s replacement must be to secure sponsorship for the regional first-class season, along with possibly enticing overseas teams to take part in regional cricket to elevate the game.

“Whether there’s someone earmarked, whether there’s someone within the regional market, I do not know, but it might be best for the West Indies board to advertise the post to try and get the best available person with that kind of experience. The kind of person who will follow up what Grave has been working on, what the West Indies board has been working on in terms of negotiations, in terms of the ICC share of the cake, which is adequate right now. So it’s not just a new man coming in and starting all over again; he’s got to hit the road running,” Perreira reasoned.

Meanwhile, former president and CEO of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), Dinanath Ramnarine, agrees that Grave’s loss will be significant.

“His expertise in the sports business industry, coupled with his extensive experience, made him an invaluable asset to the organisation. Replacing someone of his calibre will be an incredibly challenging task, as the person who follows in his footsteps will undoubtedly have big shoes to fill,” Ramnarine noted.

Daren Ganga, Dinanath Ramnarine, and a group of other cricket administrators were dealt a major blow on Tuesday when the Trinidad and Tobago High Court ordered them to pay over TT$1 million to the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB).

The administrators had been challenging the TTCB's constitution, arguing that it was unfair to incumbent officers. They specifically took issue with the fact that incumbent officers start with 12 votes in the election of executive officers, giving them a significant advantage over challengers. However, the High Court ruled that the administrators' arguments were "fundamentally flawed" and that the TTCB's constitution was "not unfair." The court also ordered the administrators to pay the TTCB's legal costs, which amounted to over TT$1 million.

The defeat is a major setback for the administrators, who have been battling the TTCB for many years. It is also a victory for the TTCB, which has been under fire for its governance in recent years. The administrators have said that they will appeal the decision, but it is unclear if they will be successful. The High Court's ruling is a major victory for the TTCB, and it is likely to deter other challenges to the board's constitution.

The defeat is also a blow to Ganga and Ramnarine, who are both former West Indies cricketers. They had hoped to use their experience and influence to reform the TTCB, but the High Court's ruling has made that task much more difficult.

A former member of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) has been ordered to play former West Indies cricketer Dinanath Ramnarine US$122,768.85 in damages for a 2016 Facebook post, which was found to be libelous.

Rafi Ali who was president of the Esmeralda Cricket Club and a nominated member of the TTCB made the comments while Ramnarine was a member of the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago.

In addressing the matter, Master of the High Court Martha Alexander insisted that Ali acted deliberately, jeeringly, and maliciously.  She believed the judgment would “serve to caution any defendant who uses Facebook or any other social media platform to libel and destroy a claimant’s reputation that he will feel the punitive arm of the court acting to deter such behaviour.”

She added that Ali’s Facebook statement was posted to destroy Ramnarine’s reputation.

“And the court must send a message that such reckless abuse of social media platforms must stop.  The defendant before this court will not be allowed to use Facebook to boost his popularity at the claimant’s expense or ‘to sell another man’s reputation for profit.”

The fees amounted to US$114,382 in damages, plus interest and an additional US$8,386 in legal fees.