Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) President Wilford “Billie” Heaven announced in a press release on Friday that he has withdrawn from the race to become West Indies Cricket President.
“I have decided not to express any further interest in the presidential contest of Cricket West Indies.”
The 24th Annual General Meeting of the CWI will be held in Antigua on March 25 this month, and DR Kishore Shallow and “Billi” Heaven have confirmed that he will contest the election for the post of West Indies Cricket President.
The current president, Ricky Skerritt, has announced that he will not contest this year’s election. However, he has served as CWI President for two terms.
With Heaven stepping down, Shallow is expected to step into Skerrit’s role.
Shallow served as vice president of the CWI under President Ricky Skerritt from 2019, and chaired the task force that developed the first West Indies selection policy.
Additionally, he chaired the Franchise Review Committee and played a major role in stabilizing the organization’s finances during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Having served as the President of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association from 2014 to 2020, he has also served as the President of the Windward Islands Cricket Board since 2019.
A graduate of Walden University in Minnesota with a doctorate in business administration specializing in financial management, Shallow also holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Wales, Cardiff, and a bachelor’s degree in applied business computing from the University of Sunderland.
Hoverer, Heaven, who was nominated by the JCA and the Guyana Cricket Board, did not elaborate on the reason for withdrawing his candidacy, but expressed dissatisfaction with the CWI governance structure.
“My objective is to serve the greater good of West Indies cricket, but unfortunately, this is not likely to be achieved if some fundamental changes are not made to the constitution and the existing rule of governance.”
Heaven further said that time will be devoted to the development of local cricket.
“Fully committed to the development of regional cricket and will continue to serve this purpose.”