Cash crunch forces CWI to overhaul regional cricket
Key Points(5)
- Cricket West Indies (CWI) is preparing for a sharply reduced regional competition calendar as mounting financial pressure forces the governing body to abandon, merge and restructure several tournaments in 2026.
- Among the most significant changes, CWI’s Under-17 competition has been scrapped, the women’s tournaments will be consolidated, and both the Combined Campuses and Colleges and West Indies Academy have been removed from the men’s competition structure.
- The measures were outlined Wednesday by CWI Chief Executive Officer Chris Dehring and Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe, who acknowledged that the organization faces a difficult financial year as revenue is expected to fall significantly.
- More cricket, fewer resources The scale of the challenge is underscored by CWI’s projected workload.
- Dehring said the organization is scheduled to stage more than 33 events during the year, including international tours involving Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Pakistan.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) is preparing for a sharply reduced regional competition calendar as mounting financial pressure forces the governing body to abandon, merge and restructure several tournaments in 2026.
Among the most significant changes, CWI’s Under-17 competition has been scrapped, the women’s tournaments will be consolidated, and both the Combined Campuses and Colleges and West Indies Academy have been removed from the men’s competition structure.
The measures were outlined Wednesday by CWI Chief Executive Officer Chris Dehring and Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe, who acknowledged that the organization faces a difficult financial year as revenue is expected to fall significantly.
More cricket, fewer resources
The scale of the challenge is underscored by CWI’s projected workload.
Dehring said the organization is scheduled to stage more than 33 events during the year, including international tours involving Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Pakistan.
But hosting those series will not necessarily translate into additional income.
Dehring explained that under the International Cricket Council’s financial model, the West Indies is not expected to benefit financially from hosting any of the three tours.
That reality has forced CWI to reassess what it can realistically afford.
The financial windfall generated by co-hosting the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup has also been exhausted, leaving the regional body with fewer resources to sustain its existing competition structure.
As a result, CWI has opted to reduce its commitments rather than attempt to maintain a calendar that its current finances cannot support.
Development takes a hit
The changes will be felt most sharply in the development pathway.
The elimination of the Under-17 tournament removes an important level of regional competition for young cricketers, while the merger of the women’s competitions will reduce the number of separate tournaments available to female players.
On the men's side, the disappearance of the Combined Campuses and Colleges and West Indies Academy from the competition programme represents another significant restructuring of the pathway between emerging talent and senior cricket.
The decisions reflect the financial reality facing CWI but also raise questions about how the region will balance immediate cost control with the need to continue developing its next generation of players.
Dehring calls for a long-term reset
Dehring said the organization could not simply continue operating as it had in previous years.
Instead, he called for a longer-term strategy built around the resources actually available to CWI.
“We have to take an honest look at ourselves and understand that we’re not going to get out of where we are without a long-term vision, a long-term plan, and an execution of those plans based on the resources that we have.
“… The year 2025-2026 is going to be a very challenging financial year for us,” Dehring said.
The message was blunt: CWI's financial circumstances now require difficult decisions, even when those decisions affect competitions designed to develop and broaden the regional game.
A difficult balancing act
For Bascombe and the cricket department, the restructuring means working within a significantly tighter framework while still trying to maintain meaningful opportunities for players across the region.
The challenge is particularly acute because CWI's international commitments remain substantial.
The governing body must manage a packed programme of tours and competitions while dealing with an income model that does not necessarily reward the West Indies for hosting major international engagements.
With the gains from the 2024 T20 World Cup no longer available to cushion the organization, CWI is entering the new cycle with a considerably narrower financial margin.
The result is a regional cricket calendar shaped as much by economics as by sporting ambition.
For CWI, the immediate priority is to ensure that the competitions it can afford are sustainable, while laying the foundation for a longer-term recovery.
But the cuts also make clear the price of that adjustment: fewer tournaments, consolidated competitions and a reduced development structure as West Indies cricket confronts one of its most financially demanding periods in recent years.
