Jamaica still the place for cricket - Shallow

Despite not pulling in bumper crowds at Sabina Park during the recently concluded One-Day and T20 International series, Dr Kishore Shallow, president of Cricket West Indies, believes Jamaica is central to the regional body’s thrust towards increasing fan support in the region.

Sri Lanka defeated the West Indies in a rain-affected One-Day International series after the home side lost the first game and the two other games were abandoned without a ball being bowled, due to consistent rains which lashed the Corporate Area last week.

The first ODI saw only a small crowd of fans coming out to watch the single game that was possible, but there was a marked improvement in the T20 series where the first game was free to women.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) says 1,500 fans attended the T20 on Thursday, 3,500 on Saturday, while 3,000 fans went through the turnstiles on Sunday.

Watched by those numbers of very vocal fans, the Caribbean men rebounded to win the T20 series two games to one.  

Shallow told The Gleaner shortly after Sunday’s exciting win that he was pleased with the fan engagement for the T20 series, despite the local mecca hosting mostly parties in recent years.

“I think it's great that we had the turnout we had over the last couple of days, actually, for the T20s especially. The truth is that for a few years, we didn't have much cricket in Jamaica. And we have just, you know, say probably the last two to three years, we have really made a deliberate effort to see how we can revive cricket here in Jamaica. That's included, you know, efforts when we brought South Africa here just before the World Cup. And we have brought series after series here. And I think it's a work in progress, but certainly encouraging, you know. Credit to Jamaica Cricket Association and Dr Bennett and his team, along with all the other stakeholders, the Government, the Ministry of Tourism, they played a part as well. And even the entertainment, you know, look at Romiech, Ding Dong and others who performed. So, I think it's work in progress, but certainly, you know, the trajectory [is] looking positive,” Shallow said.

The entertainment Shallow referenced saw various dancehall artistes performing as well as themed days, with Saturday celebrated as Jamaica Day, and the CWI boss noted that the strategy was deliberate.

“Certainly, we tried with, you know, bringing the stakeholders together. And listen, we all have our role to play. The fans have their role to play as well, with bringing, and I understand that it takes time. And what we have done is set out three years ago to say that we need Jamaica to be back in the fold with cricket. We need to have Jamaica as a critical stakeholder. Which is why we have CPL returning here this year. Because we understand that we're competing with track, we're competing with football, we're competing with so many different things, right? But we are absolutely confident that once we continue to stay focused and invest in Jamaica, we are going to see the returns. And with those returns [it] mean more fans at the stadium. It also means more Rovman Powell, Andre Russell, Chris Gayle, and so on. So, we're very invested in Jamaica and we're confident that, you know, once we continue to bring cricket here, the stadium is going to be filled eventually. As I said before, it's work in progress, but I'm quite confident and encouraged by what I've seen over the last few couple of days,” Shallow told The Gleaner.

 Cricket attendance at Sabina Park was also impacted by a seven-year hiatus from the popular Caribbean Premier League (CPL) after the local franchise, the Jamaica Tallawahs, played their last game in 2019.

But the franchise is returning for the 2026 season with new owners and a new brand, the Jamaica Kingsmen, set to play their home games at Sabina Park.

“The reality is, ODI and Test cricket, you know, they don't, you know, sort of bring the same level of appeal as maybe 10, 15 years ago. We believe that T20 is actually a great pathway, a great tool to bring back fans to cricket. And so CPL, you know, really, I mean, we call it the biggest party in sport. And we have seen how it has worked in other countries in the Caribbean to bring fans to the game, whether the boys, girls, women, men, everyone. Almost a family event, but in a festive way, true Caribbean style. And we're confident that it will also inspire Jamaicans to come out. And what we want, ultimately, is to have more Rovman Powells and those guys. I saw some kids playing over in the stands. And that is what we want. We want kids to come to the game so that they eventually will become cricketers and, obviously, one day, play for the West Indies,” Shallow said.

The West Indies are yet to achieve automatic qualification to the 2027 ODI World Cup as they currently sit 10th in the ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings and must force themselves into the top eight by March 31 to avoid having to play the qualifiers.

However, the Caribbean men gained direct qualification to the 2028 T20 World Cup after advancing out of the group stage into the Super 8 stage at the 2026 staging.