CWI trims regional teams and tournaments amidst money woes

In a move which is expected to help save the organisation money in the long-run, Cricket West Indies (CWI) said it will be reducing the number of tournaments and consequently the number of teams participating in regional competitions for the 2025/26 season.

At CWI's quarterly press conference in Antigua on October 1, CWI president Dr Kishore Shallow described the cricket body's financial standing as a chronic one, and he, CWI CEO Chris Dehring and director of cricket Miles Bascombe said the board is doing its best to work alongside regional and international partners to ensure a boost in revenue while maintaining the vision of CWI's strategic plan for 2024-2027.

The CWI officials confirmed that the boys' regional Under-17 tournament for the 2026 season will be scrapped, while the women's regional T20 and 50-over tournaments will be merged into one competition and is expected to be hosted ahead of the West Indies' women's series against Sri Lanka in February. Also, on the men's side, Bascombe disclosed that the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) and the West Indies Academy cricket teams will most likely be pulled from the regional tournaments in the upcoming season.

Still, the CWI officials said they are set to host over 33 events next year, with the boys' Under-19 regional tourney to be extended to give way for talented Under-17 players to make the step up in a higher and presumably more challenging age group.

"The CEO and president spoke to the financial challenges we'll face in 2025 and 2026. As a result, the cricket department was tasked with ensuring our tournaments help our counterparts in finance to meet their objectives as well as ours," Bascombe said.

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