Cricket West Indies Chief Executive Officer Chris Dehring has called for greater investment in girls’ cricket across the Caribbean, arguing that the region has significant untapped female sporting talent but lacks the grassroots structures needed to turn that potential into a stronger pipeline for the West Indies Women’s team.
The push comes with West Indies Women ranked sixth in the ICC Women’s T20 International rankings and seventh in ODIs, despite the absence of organised girls’ high-school cricket tournaments across the region. Their recent run to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup semi-finals, where they were eliminated by Australia, has further highlighted the contrast between results at international level and the development system beneath the senior team.
Dehring targets grassroots development gap
The six territorial cricket boards are being encouraged to strengthen their contribution to developing female players, with the creation of organised pathways at school level central to the wider challenge facing West Indies cricket.
Cricket West Indies Chief Executive Officer Chris Dehring told The Gleaner at a recent lacrosse black-tie fundraiser: “Imagine, we can reach the semi-final of the women’s World Cup, and there’s not even a single girls’ high school tournament anywhere in the region.”
Building a broader base of young players would give CWI and its territorial boards a larger pool from which to identify talent capable of progressing towards international cricket. The focus comes as the women’s game continues to offer opportunities beyond the traditional international pathway.
Women’s cricket presents commercial opportunity
For Dehring, investment in girls’ cricket is also about creating viable professional opportunities for female athletes. The growth of the women’s game has expanded the potential for players to build careers and generate earnings through cricket.
He added: “… There’s no bigger sport for women in the world at present time that gives you a greater opportunity for financial sustainability, financial earnings, and just an international career bigger than cricket at this time. So look at that as an opportunity.”
That potential places the development of female cricket within a broader strategic question for the Caribbean: whether existing athletic talent can be directed towards a sport capable of providing an international career.
Los Angeles 2028 creates another pathway
Cricket’s return to the Olympic Games at Los Angeles 2028 adds another dimension to the opportunity. Both men’s and women’s cricket will feature at the Games, creating an additional elite target alongside established international competitions.
Dehring stated: “Attracting some of these incredible female athletes that we have in Jamaica … I can well see Jamaica reaching the podium in women’s cricket quicker than in men’s cricket.”
Jamaica represents a particular focus within Dehring’s argument because of the depth of female sporting talent already emerging through the country’s school system.
He noted: “Jamaica probably has the highest per capita athletic quotient for women anywhere in the world. You just look at all girls’ high-school athletes. It’s just incredible the talent that we have. We need to be harnessing that. More importantly, we need to be giving those girls the opportunity that they deserve.”
The challenge for CWI and its territorial boards is to build a development structure capable of connecting that grassroots athletic potential with the international women’s game. With West Indies Women already competing among the higher-ranked sides internationally, Dehring’s call places investment in girls’ cricket at the centre of efforts to expand the region’s future player pathway.
