Earlier this month (August 10 & 11, 2025) a Cricket West Indies two-day emergency summit was held to draft reforms to ensure “West Indies cricket’s return to glory,” in Chris Dehring’s words. Key figures from the Caribbean cricket world explored systemic challenges and reforms, modernization, equity, coaching, education, and development and related solutions. For full article, visit Cricexec.
A two-day Cricket West Indies (CWI) summit, held on August 10–11 at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad, brought together key stakeholders to address critical challenges affecting West Indies team performance and to chart a course for structural reform across the region’s cricket ecosystem.
Led by CWI CEO Chris Dehring and attended by the Cricket Strategy & Officiating Committee (CSOC), past legends such as Sir Clive Lloyd and Brian Lara, current players including Roston Chase and Shai Hope, and team management personnel, the summit focused on player development, competitive readiness, stakeholder alignment, and long-term sustainability.
Key issues: player pathways, facilities, and systemic reform
Discussions highlighted deficiencies in the player development pipeline, lack of infrastructure and high-performance centers, inadequate domestic competition standards, and challenges in retaining and motivating talent.
“Cricket West Indies can’t do it alone,” said Dehring. “We need coordinated efforts across the region—from schools, academies, and national boards—to build a sustainable cricketing model. The commercial and resource gap with other nations is vast, but not insurmountable.”
Dehring emphasized the need for territorial academy systems and an urgent push to develop a regional high-performance center with state-of-the-art facilities to address technical skill gaps early in a player’s development.
Frank conversations and honest assessments
Chair of the CSOC Enoch Lewis said the goal was to gather honest, wide-ranging feedback from every layer of Caribbean cricket, and to develop both short-term fixes and long-term strategies.
Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe noted, “The first step is identifying systemic issues throughout our cricket structure. We must now turn discussions into holistic solutions to ensure real, lasting change.”
Legendary voices call for modernization and equity
Brian Lara highlighted the role of analytics and technology in the modern game: “We must shift focus to these areas if we want to be competitive again.”
Sir Clive Lloyd added: “The coaches clearly laid out what’s needed. I hope we can deliver on that. The financial disparity in world cricket is real, and we now need a greater share of the global cricket economy.”
Coaching, education, and development take center stage
Bascombe addressed coaching inadequacies, stating that the current certification system is not producing enough elite-level coaches. As a short-term fix, CWI has hired a coaching development consultant to work with franchise teams, while a long-term overhaul of the coaching education program is underway. “We must raise coaching standards across the region if we are to elevate player performance,” he said. [. . .]
For full article, see https://www.cricexec.com/west-indies-cricket-summit-outlines-bold-reforms-to-revive-team-performance-and-competitiveness/689559654/