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getting cricket back into the Olympics after a gap of 128 years.

“The fact that India came on board and supported that bid was absolutely, in my opinion, crucial for the result that the ICC got, which was the acceptance of cricket into the LA Games.

“And we’re already seeing from the Associate world, in particular, that being an Olympic sport has a very big impact on them, positively, in terms of how they can get money from government, get money from the Olympic associations to drive the game at all levels.”

“Centralise travel costs and accommodation in WTC”

India have toured the West Indies three times in the last five years, providing a massive financial boost to the CWI, which largely depends on media-rights money from Indian and English broadcasters to keep the game afloat in the Caribbean.

As of now, series in the WTC cycle are bilaterals with the home board pocketing all broadcast revenues and the visiting teams having to pay for their own travel. Grave wants the ICC to centralise the travel costs – West Indies have to spend quite a bit on travel in crisscrossing the globe.

“We have to have a league mentality that we’re all in it together as the Test playing nations,’” Grave said. “And I think the World Test Championship is a start to that. I think it’s gaining some momentum. I think it can be improved.

“Centralise flights and accommodation within the World Test Championship and take on those costs as the costs of the league rather than placing all that burden on the participating teams as we’re so negatively disadvantaged by that.”

What a view! The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Trophy at Kaieteur Falls (PHOTO: News Room/Avidesh Narine/ May 22, 2024)

T20 World Cup to offer economic boost of US$300 million in the region

In Grave’s words, the CWI has not been in a better place financially after multiple tours from India and England in the post-Covid era. The T20 World Cup, which is the first ICC men’s event held in the Caribbean since 2010, will also add to the coffers of CWI, which generates an annual revenue of US$50 million.

The six chosen venues needed urgent renovation to be World Cup ready and that has cost $50 million approximately, with half of the amount spent on the Kensington Oval in Barbados, where the final will be staged.

“It’s been 14 years since we hosted our last men’s event,” he said. “And it’s hugely important [that we get to host world events].

“[Building infrastructure] is a huge part of hosting a World Cup because the legacy of that means that the six grounds that are playing hosts for this World Cup will have facilities that we, Cricket West Indies and our home boards, can benefit from for hopefully for the next decade.”

West Indies are co-hosting the T20 showpiece with USA, and going forward, more world events will be jointly hosted and not just by India, England and Australia, as it has been the case in the last ten years.

“We made the point that we think there should be more equal revenue sharing of ICC distributions [BCCI currently gets nearly 40% of the share]. And part of that equality was the spreading around [the hosting rights for] the men’s events.

“Some of the bigger host countries could be making $100 million from hosting a men’s event based on the revenues that they would keep.

“And therefore, it’s another way in which if you’re not spreading around those events, that the few nations that do host are benefiting more than others, as well as getting on-the-field home advantage and playing in home conditions that they should know better and be able to adapt better.

“It’s an important part of the change of the next cycle, there’s going to be multiple teams hosting.” (ESPNcricinfo)

played in the winning side in multiple T20 World Cup finals and two of them are targeting a third in two weeks’ time. Johnson Charles contributed a combined 1 off 12 balls in West Indies victories in the 2012 and 2016 finals, but now has the opportunity to become the most decorated player – alongside Andre Russell – in men’s T20 World Cup history.

Charles’ batting relies mainly on power but more broadly, his timing has been perfect. He has only played 54 T20Is in a 13-year West Indies career, but 18 of them have come at World Cups, including 13 across two winning campaigns. He did not play any international cricket for almost six years between 2016 and 2022, but is back in the picture for a tournament on home soil.

At every World Cup, certain players have the rare opportunity to feature in a major event in front of a local crowd, but it is even more significant for West Indies in this tournament. They will play at five different venues and at each of them, at least one player will be representing their country as well as the region.

On Monday night, it is Charles’ turn in St. Lucia when West Indies face Afghanistan – with coach Daren Sammy in the unprecedented position of coaching his team at a stadium named after him. Charles has had a quiet start to the World Cup, with a 42-ball 44 against Uganda bookended by ducks against Papua New Guinea and New Zealand; he also dropped a straightforward catch off Jimmy Neesham, which burst through his hands and went for six.

He will welcome the opportunity to play at home, especially at one of the best grounds for batting in the region. “That’s the beauty of the Caribbean,” Rovman Powell, West Indies’ captain said on Sunday. “When we go to those islands, traditionally, we have someone in the team that is from those islands so the crowd generally come out and support West Indies. We’re going to need the support not just of the St. Lucians here, but when we move on.”

St. Lucia has a tiny population – around 180,000 – and its economy is geared around tourism. It is not a traditional cricketing hub and until 20 years ago, it had never produced a West Indies men’s player. Mindoo Phillip was the island’s most celebrated player of the 20^th century, but was never picked by West Indies: “It remains a raging debate even to this day why he was never, ever chosen,” the St. Lucia Star reported in 2019.

In that context, it is truly extraordinary that St. Lucia has produced two of the eight men to have won multiple T20 World Cup finals, and even more so that they could combine to win a third this month. “It must be a surreal feeling for Daren,” Powell said. “It’s an opportunity for us to put on a show for the St. Lucians.”

West Indies are hoping Johnson Charles can come good in familiar conditions in St. Lucia on Monday night (Photo: ICC via Getty Images)

If Sammy is the local celebrity – he has a designated parking space at the stadium and was in the crowd for Australia’s win over Scotland on Sunday night – then Charles is not too far behind. At the same time that the Beausejour Cricket Ground was rebranded in Sammy’s honour, the main stand on the west side was named the Johnson Charles Stand.

Charles splits opinion among West Indies fans more generally and West Indies’ unique position as a multi-national team means that whispers of cronyism and regional politics are never far away- no matter Charles’ form in franchise cricket, or the fact that his recall predates Sammy’s appointment as head coach. Some supporters are already calling for Shai Hope to replace him.

But West Indies’ bet is that Charles will come off at least once in the World Cup and win them a game, as he did against South Africa in Jamaica last month.

“It’s just a case of us telling him to be Johnson Charles, be his natural self,” Powell said. “If he’s an aggressive player, we expect him to play aggressive. We know with that aggression, at some point, he will fail and at some point, he will come good. We know that Johnson is definitely a match-winner for us.”

He will continue to open alongside Brandon King, who is more of a touch player. “It’s for us now to support him,” Powell said. “It’s for us to give him that additional backing that he needs and I think everyone is behind him to come good tomorrow, or when he gets the opportunity in future games.”

Nobody has scored as many runs as Charles at the Daren Sammy Stadium in T20 cricket and after struggling on slow, low surfaces in Guyana and Trinidad, West Indies’ batters are relishing the prospect of a flatter pitch. “When we looked at the schedule, all the batters were excited to come to St. Lucia,” Powell said.

It is ominous for their Super Eight opponents – England, USA and South Africa – that West Indies have qualified without putting together a complete performance and with nothing riding on Monday’s match, it is an opportunity for players to build confidence before the second phase. Powell wants them to make use of it: “Now it’s time for Johnson Charles to put on a show for his fellow St. Lucians,” he said. (ESPNcricinfo)

beaten by 83 runs by Sri Lanka, who picked up their first win.

Sri Lanka posted 201-6 – the joint-highest total of the World Cup so far – with Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka both top-scoring with 46 before the Dutch were skittled for 118, with Nuwan Thushara taking 3-24. (BBC)