(Sportsmax) Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Kishore Shallow has candidly acknowledged the significant challenges facing women’s cricket in the Caribbean, as he emphasized the need for structural reform to bridge the gap between regional and international competition.
The struggles of the West Indies women’s team were evident during their recent One-Day International (ODI) series in India, where they were whitewashed 3-0 after a five-wicket loss in Friday’s final contest. Prior to that, they lost the three-match T20I series 1-2.
“The women need a lot of work because a lot of the issues you see internationally are because of our regional and national structure,” Shallow said on the Mason and Guest cricket radio show.
“Players are not competitive when they play regional cricket. The gap is so wide between regional and international cricket…We have to up-skill our regional players,” he added.
He further stressed the importance of grassroots development to ensure long-term progress.
“We have to start nationally, getting more players across the different territories to play cricket at the junior stage… and that is really when you are going to see a transformation,” Shallow noted.
During the show, Shallow also confirmed that Ann Browne-John, a former lead selector for the women’s senior team, remains part of the selection process under the new structure introduced by CWI.
“She is one of the talent pathway managers, which helps to identify the talent for women. We have identified a male as well, but I don’t think they have reached an agreement yet,” he explained.
CWI’s new selection structure, outlined in September, places final team selection responsibility with the Head coach, with support from Talent Managers and Talent Identifiers. While Shallow confirmed Browne-John’s involvement, official announcements regarding other appointments for the men’s and women’s programmes are still pending.
Meanwhile, West Indies women’s Head coach Shane Deitz also highlighted the urgent need for a more comprehensive approach to player development.
“We’re never going to be a successful team unless we’ve got 11, 15, really 20 world-class players. How we do that is what we’re looking at,” Deitz said.
“There’s a lot of things we need to do better back in the Caribbean—regional cricket, consistent 12-month programmes for players in the squad, outside the squad, so there’s obviously a lot of work to do,” he noted.
Still, with a packed schedule ahead, including regional competitions and World Cup qualifiers, the focus remains on addressing systemic issues in women’s cricket to ensure the West Indies women’s team can compete consistently on the international stage.
