Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief executive officer Chris Dehring has emphasized the need for West Indies cricket to adapt in response to the growing impact of global T20 franchise leagues. While acknowledging the challenges posed by these leagues, he remains optimistic that a balanced approach can help safeguard the region’s cricketing future.
Dehring highlighted the increasing difficulty in retaining players, as many opt for lucrative contracts over international duty. He noted that while private investment has changed the landscape, it also presents opportunities.
“I don’t condemn all this private investment and all these leagues popping up around the world, because it kind of solves one of the challenges. It creates other challenges… for the West Indies team and future West Indies teams, but it’s not something that I look down on or am afraid of,” Dehring said on the Mason and Guest cricket radio show.
To navigate this shifting landscape, Dehring stressed the importance of enhancing cricket infrastructure, increasing national resources at the territorial board level, and ensuring a well-developed talent pipeline.
“We just have to find the right way to ride those waves—to get more infrastructure, to get more national resources going into the sport at the territorial board level; to get more and more exposed people working in cricket at the different levels. You have to create a pipeline,” he explained.
He further observed that the rise of franchise leagues has led to a scenario where players can sustain their careers without relying on CWI, drawing parallels with international club football.
“Where you have private investment coming into the sport, doing all that development work, and basically, the English FA basically has to pick the players off at the end,” he noted.
Dehring believes that addressing this issue requires more than just CWI’s efforts and called for intervention from the International Cricket Council (ICC).
“It is seriously under discussion whether the ICC should try and own the international calendar, create windows in which only international cricket can be played, etc.,” he said. “It’s an evolving process. We have to be part of that discussion knowing our particular vulnerability, because we don’t simply have the commercial resources to retain players and pay players the way India or an England might be able to. But… even England, with their resources, are coming under pressure… Collectively, cricket has to solve this problem.”
On the commercial front, Dehring outlined CWI’s strategy to position itself as a viable business entity that attracts corporate sponsorships.
“We have a commercial area that we are going to utilise to continue to push West Indies cricket as a platform for commercial activity,” he shared. “We’re not asking for corporate support; we have to put together the kind of sponsorship packages… that will allow companies or encourage companies across the Caribbean and internationally to use West Indies cricket as a platform.”
Although CWI is currently financially stable, Dehring believes that greater investment is needed to enhance player development and infrastructure.
“We’re paying our bills, but our bills should be much bigger. We should have much more developmental expenditure,” he stated.
Ultimately, Dehring stressed the importance of leveraging the Caribbean’s natural athletic talent, noting that while CWI cannot match India’s financial power, it has other strengths to capitalize on.
“What they (India) don’t have is our high athletic quotient… What we need to do is maximise it, making sure we get the best of the athletes that are coming into the system,” he concluded.
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Photo Credit: LinkedIn Profile Photo of Chris Dehring
