Photo Credit: Cricket West Indies
The Windward Islands Cricket Board (WICB) makes available grants totaling USD 25,000 for national associations. These grants are to be used for female cricket. The funding was approved at a WICB board meeting held on October 30, 2021.
The intention of the program is to aid the development of female cricket throughout the Windward Islands. Each country will run its program, focusing on talent identification, coaching, or competitive matches. The execution of this initiative is expected to be completed by March 2022.
President, WICB, Dr. Kishore Shallow, suggested that this is a timely intervention for female cricket. “This funding is a much-needed injection in the female game and should afford more emphasis on this component of cricket throughout the Windward Islands, which by extension, augurs well for West Indies cricket,” said Dr. Shallow.
St. Lucia National Cricket Association’s (SLNCA) President, Carol Henry, welcomed the initiative following a similar grant earlier in the year spent to complete the SLNCA Under 19 Best of the Best training program. He stated, “this second grant comes with a condition requiring proceeds be applied to Women’s cricket and is timely as the SLNCA Alicia John T20 tournament, followed by SLNCA Women’s Best of the Best are scheduled at year-end.”
In the first quarter of 2021, WICB provided similar grants to the four national associations in the Windward Islands. The projects completed under that program included youth training camps, purchasing equipment for players, and cricket tournaments.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) governs cricket across the West Indies, a confederation of Caribbean countries. Originally established as the West Indies Cricket Board of Control in the 1920s, it became the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in 1996 and was rebranded as Cricket West Indies in May 2017 as part of a restructuring effort.
