BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Barbadian businessman Dr. Roland Toppin has been identified as the new chief executive officer of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

A well-placed source has independently confirmed to CMC Sports that Toppin is the firm choice to fill the post which has been vacant since Roger Brathwaite resigned in March. But Toppin, general manager of Duraplast, a five-year-old company that recycles polyethylene terephthalate waste for use in roof shingles, has not yet agreed to the WICB's contract.

Media reports have indicated that he is expected to be offered a two-year deal and will be given strict performance clauses.

The choice of Toppin was apparently made by a WICB committee comprising WICB President Ken Gordon, adviser Sir Alister McIntyre, and Barbados Cricket Association president Tony Marshall.

The selection was unanimously ratified by the directors at their meeting in Antigua on October 19, but Gordon did not make mention of the decision during his speech at a board dinner at the Royal Antiguan Hotel.

An official announcement of the position is expected in the next week.