Gonsalves blasts ‘neocolonial entity’ CWI in fiery radio broadside

Former St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves launched a blistering attack on Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Tuesday night, accusing the governing body of arrogance, neocolonialism, and abandoning its historic mission.

Speaking on the Barbados radio talk show Mason and Guest, Dr Gonsalves did not hold back, echoing and amplifying recent criticisms from Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

Mottley declared that Barbados will chart its own cricket destiny, refusing to rely solely on Cricket West Indies after the Kensington Oval was snubbed for 2026 matches.

Gonsalves fully endorsed Mottley’s outrage over CWI’s decision to exclude Barbados from hosting any matches during the upcoming tour featuring three international teams.

Kensington, commonly referred to as ‘The Mecca’, will not host any of the four Tests, six One-Day Internationals or six T20Is scheduled to be played from June to August during the home series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Pakistan later this year.

Those matches will be held in Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana.

“You can’t have three teams coming to the Caribbean and Barbados doesn’t get a game,” Gonsalves said.

“I’m not Bajan, but I will say that if you’re having three teams come into the region, Barbados should get a game.”

The former prime minister’s comments add significant political weight to the growing regional backlash against CWI’s scheduling decisions.

The veteran leader then turned his ire on CWI’s structure and leadership, specifically targeting President Dr Kishore Shallow.

Gonsalves reiterated his stance that Shallow cannot simultaneously serve as CWI president and a sitting minister of government, calling it “a clear conflict of interest”.

But his most scathing critique was reserved for the institution itself.

“CWI, a private-sector company which arrogantly and exclusively presumes to run the public good known as cricket, has been a disaster on all material fronts,” Gonsalves declared.

He laid out two core indictments, with the first being that CWI derives its legitimacy not from the Caribbean people, but from the International Cricket Council, which he claimed is “run from Dubai under the control and direction of Indian cricket imperialism”.

Second, he labelled CWI a “neocolonial entity” that has “lost any sense of the historic mission and purpose of West Indies cricket”.