The Cricketer looks at the runners and riders after news that Harrison will step down from the role, that he has held since 2014, in June
The current Cricket West Indies chief executive is understood to be among the main group of candidates to replace Harrison.
He spent nearly seven years at Surrey in communications and commercial roles before becoming head of media and sales in 2004, during a time when the club turned into a financial giant of the county game.
Between 2007 and 2017 he served as commercial director of the Professional Cricketers' Association, a tenure after which he was hailed for having improved the relationship between players and the England and Wales Cricket Board.
And crucially, Grave was credited with improving commercial revenue streams and raising money for the PCA Professional Cricketers' Trust - the charitable arm of the players' union.
The last five years has seen Grave lead one of the more troubled and complicated organisations on the international cricket landscape - which stands him in good stead.
Grave has had plenty on his plate. Covid ruined finances ($23 million was lost) across the Caribbean and England touring in January and March was the first step on the recovery trail. That both men's and women's teams toured England in 2020 at the height of the pandemic is a credit to his diplomacy.
Meanwhile, the Caribbean Premier League has become a meaningful staple in the franchise calendar, the first tour to Netherlands is scheduled, the domestic calendar is back on track and central contracts for women are growing in number.
He hasn't been afraid to rock the boat, criticising cricketing authorities across the island and is regarded as a supporter of current president Ricky Skerritt.
Cricket in the West Indies is on the right path under Grave (Randy Brooks/Getty Images)
The interim CEO, replacing Tom Harrison while the ECB conduct the search for a replacement.
Few know the inner workings of the game better than Connor. She captained England, playing 16 Tests, 93 one-day internationals and two T20Is and is a key figure in the rapid growth of women's cricket during the 21st century.
Since retiring in 2007, Connor has embarked on a successful administrative career. Indeed, there are few positions across the cricketing landscape she is yet to occupy.
Currently, she is the chair of the ICC's Women's Committee and sits on the chief executives' committee, is the head of women's cricket at the ECB and the first female president of the MCC.
In 2014, she oversaw the first central contracts for England women’s players, the 2017 World Cup win, full-time deals for female domestic cricketers from 2020 and the arrival of The Hundred last summer.
"The system now is giving more girls the chance to be on a pathway that is set up for them, so girls should be able to thrive in the game by design, not by complete chance, which is what my situation was," she told The Guardian last October.
And, to that point, Connor is a respected and passionate ambassador for English cricket and a credit to the sport she represents. It is up to her whether she wants this poisoned chalice.
The Oval has developed into a world-class cricketing venue (Christopher Lee/Getty Images)
A former candidate who was overlooked when Harrison was installed in 2014.
After six years at Somerset, Gould helped turn Surrey into a financial behemoth across 10 years as CEO.
In his last full financial year before Covid the club recorded record profits of £6.3 million, as The Oval became the go-to T20 Blast venue and a regular in England men's home summer Test schedule.
The ground underwent numerous improvements, including the new Peter May Stand and One Oval Square, while they have a hospitality offering to rival anyone in the country.
On the field, Surrey won the LV=Insurance County Championship in 2018 and continue to churn out international stars of the present and future.
Last June, he left South London to return to the West Country to join Bristol City, whom his father represented in the 70s.
But before swapping county cricket for Championship football, Gould went out swinging. He was a public critic and opponent of The Hundred, accusing the ECB of “an ambush” during its proposal, was against the franchise model and a fourth competition being added to the cluttered schedule.
Despite his success as an administrator, that hostility might rule him out from the start, particularly with no sign of the 100-ball competition being ditched.
There might, however, be the tantalising prospect of Gould linking up with Surrey chair Richard Thompson - among the candidates to succeed Ian Watmore at the ECB.
Tom Harrison will stand down in June after eight years at the helm (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
The current chief operating officer at the ECB, who has been with the governing body since 2016.
Mahoney helped cultivate the Inspiring Generations strategy and shifted roles in 2019 to embark on executing it.
A former chief advisor at Ofcom - where he spent 11 years in total - Mahoney has twice been enlisted to assist in government business.
The first occasion came in 2009 as a director of the Digital Britain Report and then in 2021 as part of Tracey Crouch's fan-led review of football.
He was embroiled in controversy last year when it was he, rather than Harrison, who had to inform Pakistan chair Ramiz Raja that England would not be touring.
A strong-willed military man with 18 years in the British Army behind him, Lavender is one of the most senior figures in English cricket.
The MCC chief executive and secretary since 2017 after six years at Somerset, he has embarked on dragging the club and Lord's kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
Connor's arrival as president, the addition of the Heyhoe Flint Gate, the National Asian Cricket Council playing the MCC, school children flooding the pavilion, partnering with Show Racism the Red Card, the return of England women to Lord's and plans to stage of the first disability cricket match on the main square are among his achievements.
Expansion of the Compton and Edrich Stands have, meanwhile, increased the capacity at Lord's to 31,600 while it continues to host the blue-riband Test of the summer.
Lavender would be as close to a safe option as the ECB could feasibly find from outside the current organisation. He was a strong proponent of The Hundred, and backed the ECB's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion plan before the MCC introduced their own impressive and extensive strategy.
The English cricket summer schedule is busier than ever before (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Pinched from Warwickshire in 2020 and installed as managing director - Snowball has been in the line of fire ever since stepping into the role at the ECB.
It is Snowball that breached the gap between the ECB and the sport's key stakeholders, central to that being the 18 first-class counties.
That includes putting together a domestic and international summer calendar that has more moving parts than a game of Mouse Trap. It is an impossible job to be burdened with.
Covid has naturally complicated that task, with three differently structured first-class competitions in as many years, new women's competitions, a huge demand for international cricket and The Hundred all to consider.
It could be argued that Snowball has performed a tough job, with all the scrutiny that goes with it, well and in moving him the ECB would be losing a key cog in the machine.
In three years as Warwickshire chief executive, Snowball helped establish Edgbaston as one of the leading grounds in the country, a credible World Cup host and now a regular home for T20 Blast Finals Day - the biggest event on the domestic calendar.
And there is no doubting his administrative pedigree outside of the cricket, either. He helped deliver the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England and was head of sport operations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Lord Patel has helped overhaul Yorkshire in the wake of the Azeem Rafiq scandal (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
The man credited with orchestrating the cleansing process at Yorkshire.
Patel should be considered a prime candidate because of the way he has handled himself at Headingley over the past six months.
His attempts to reform the club faced opposition but he remained committed to change and has helped set the club on a road to a degree of salvation.
Previously an advisor to the ECB board, Patel knows what hardship feels like. Racism, poverty, discrimination, and tragedy beset his childhood and he has embarked on trying to make the world a better place.
A former Labour peer, he's worked with UNICEF to improve on global water and sanitation, with the National Institute for Mental Health England and operated as a social worker to help drug addicts. To name a few.
And there is no doubting his love for cricket, having played from an early age, assisted the governing body and revitalised one of the nine original first-class counties.
The main question is: after giving so much to society, would he suit a well-renumerated role behind a desk sorting out English cricket?
"My upbringing set the tone for me to work for social justice," he told The Cricketer in 2017. Maybe that makes him just perfect.
Bevan had led the CPL since 2013 (Randy Brooks/Getty Images)
The current League Managers' Association (LMA) chief executive, Bevan perhaps represents the leftfield, yet still formidable, candidate on the list.
Despite spending a large portion of his career in football, he was the brainchild behind some of cricket's most crucial administrative decisions this century.
He spent 11 years working with the PCA and became CEO in 2001 as the union started to cement itself as a major voice.
Additionally, he was also a founding director of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA).
Bevan remains in the sport as a trustee of the Team England Player Partnership, which negotiates central contracts independently with the ECB on behalf of players, a role he has held for over 21 years ever since it was established.
And since 2013 he has been chair of the CPL, one of the highlights of the franchise calendar.
More recently, alongside his role with the LMA he has led the partnership with Greater Manchester’s ‘Shining A Light On Suicide’ campaign to help raise awareness of suicide and is a board member for Sport United Against Dementia.
Aside from his wealth of experience and knowledge, the attraction of Bevan would be that he comes from the outside, with a fresh outlook and ideas. It is unlikely he'd get as far as Lord's without the ECB establishing if his key ones correlate with their own, but he could be sold as a relative breath of fresh air even if he is a familiar face from around various corners of the game.
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