2026 West Indies First Class Season.

BARBADOS PRIDE SQUAD -

Kraigg Brathwaite (captain) Retired from test cricket (33 years old)

Joshua Bishop

Leniko Boucher

Shian Brathwaite

Jonathan Drakes

Johann Layne

Kyle Mayers (33 years old)

Jair McAllister

Shayne Moseley (31 years old)

Ramon Simmonds

Shamar Springer

Jomel Warrican (33 years old)

Kevin Wickham

Are the West still looking for young players? Then again, why does Barbados not allow the young talent to get some experience (Seth Agard, Damel Evelyn, Jason Dorne, Motara).

Is there going to be a CCC and Academy team this season?

@seaegg99

No CCC nor Academy teams in 2026's tournament.

https://kaieteurnewsonline.com/2026/03/12/fewer-teams-tightened-fixtures-to-embody-this-years-regional-4-day-season/

Kaieteur Sports – The 2026 Cricket West Indies (CWI) Regional 4-Day Tournament will feature this season’s competition being resized to a shorter version, with fewer teams with action bowling off from April 12.

What was dubbed as a “new competition structure” by the CWI last week, the more compact version of the competition is a result of financial challenges faced by CWI.

The financial hurdles have somewhat forced CWI to scale back a few of their regular teams like the West Indies Academy (WIA) and the veteran Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) unit, which have been unfortunately cut from this year’s tournament; resulting in players from both teams returning to their respective home franchises.

While the older model of the tournament was basically being a straight shootout among franchises with the team finishing with the most points being crowned champs, the 2026 version will see a change from the previous seasons.

CWI have also sought to tighten the playing venues which in turn reduce cross Caribbean travel, with possibilities of even hosting the entire tournament within a single country; which further plays into the cost-cutting measures.

Despite the CWI rolling out this new structure in a bid to revamp their current financial state, measures to expand the regional basin across all levels, coupled with a reinforced sports science department which aims to address any grey areas as West Indies cricket continues to grow. (Clifton Ross)

With no cwi or academy this year a lot of players are going to miss out playing 4 day cricket.

test discard Brathwaithe is captain even though warrican is wi vice captain is interesting .

Its not a bad side you got some promising players and some experience .johann layne already has played couple tests, joshua bishop and kevin wickham are just on the cusp of wi selection

A strong side, however, did Kraigg retire from test cricket? Hopefully MacAllister has improved his technique and control, it is rumored that he played some club cricket in Australia. The regional Selectors tend to favor the experienced players,