CWI president Shallow welcomes cricket's Olympic return at LA28

With Monday's announcement of cricket's inclusion at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 (LA28), Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Kishore Shallow says it presents an "exciting opportunity" for cricketers in the Caribbean.

During the 141st International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Mumbai, India on Monday, the addition of cricket was formally ratified by the IOC, along with baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse and squash. This will be cricket's second inclusion at the Olympics, with its only other appearance coming over 100 years ago at the Paris 1900 Olympics. At those 1900 Games, just two cricket teams featured in a format which mirrored a game at the first-class level. In LA28, the popular Twenty20 format will see both men's and women's teams competing for Olympic glory.

Speaking at a CWI press conference at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre on Monday, Shallow said: "It's exciting news for the players as cricketers will now have their own event that they can aspire to play in at the Olympics. There will be national interest as well to represent nationally."

Though cricket hasn't been played at the Olympics in well over a century, women's T20 cricket was contested at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. A Barbados women's team represented the Caribbean at the Commonwealth Games, as they were the winners of the CWI's T20 Blaze tournament in 2020 – the eventual qualifying tournament.

With West Indies' unique make-up of a combination of varying territorial boards as opposed to a single cricketing nation, Shallow was asked about the procedure for the region to be represented at LA28.

"We still have to explore and discuss within the region how we are going to identify those teams that will participate in LA28. What I could say from this point is that it's quite exciting for us and we're happy for any additional opportunities players are going to get to exploit and expose their talent. That's where we are right now. Discussions are going to be held on that.

More than likely, what we will do is task the cricket committee to discuss this matter and come back to the board to advise how we are going to move forward. The tournament is four years down the line, so I expect by March next year we'll have a definite response on how we are going to approach it. It's an exciting time and an opportunity for our cricketers."

West Indies, two-time T20 World Cup champions in 2012 and 2016, are currently ranked seventh in the format by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The ICC proposed six teams to be included in LA28, with a cut-off date for qualification still to be finalized. West Indies will co-host the 2024 T20 World Cup with the US.

Shallow was also asked about the possible return of a Caribbean T20 tournament – outside of the Caribbean Premier League – as a qualifying tournament for LA28.

"CPL and CWI have an agreement for 50 years. CPL have the rights to commercial T20 tournaments in the region. However, CPL are of course quite supportive of it and it is something in the pipeline and hopefully we will be able to make an announcement with regards to this.

"There have been plans in place – even before the LA28 – that we would have a domestic league. We absolutely believe that it's necessary to identify and develop our next group of T20 stars."

With the next T20 World Cup set to begin in June 2024, Shallow hopes a new Caribbean T20 tournament can be materialised within the next year. Shallow said next year's host venues will face inspection in December, and he expects an announcement on the match schedule for next year's showpiece event to be made after the ongoing 50-over World Cup which concludes on November 19.