There appears to be some jostling, confusion, claims, and counterclaims regarding the venues for next year’s World Cup in the Caribbean. Conde Riley, the president of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), one of the members of Cricket West Indies (CWI), has asserted that he possesses documents designating Barbados as the host for the final of the 2024 Twenty20 World Cup, a claim that was promptly dismissed by top CWI authorities.
“Yes, that’s correct… We have documentation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and CWI suggesting that Barbados will be the venue for the final,” Riley, a longstanding president of the BCA, told Cricbuzz on Wednesday, a day after making a similar claim on the Mason & Guest Radio program in the Caribbean. “Based on the documents from Cricket West Indies and the ICC, Barbados will host the final, a semi-final, and several games, including matches involving India and England,” he told the radio station.
However, CWI president Kishore Shallow contradicted Barbados’ claim, stating that he has no such information. “Based on the submissions to the ICC for consideration, the venues for the final and the semi-finals would be Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. There has been no communication from the ICC to Cricket West Indies regarding the finals,” the CWI president informed the same radio program. According to him, the final decision will be made by ICC in November when a meeting will take place in India.
The ICC recently announced that seven venues have been identified in the Caribbean to host the World Cup from June 4 to June 30. They are Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago. Dallas, Florida, and New York are the venues in the US.
The seven Caribbean countries were chosen internally by CWI based on their bids, and Riley stated that the CWI president is aware of Barbados’ bid. Jamaica, a key constituent of the CWI, did not submit a bid to host the games.
“It will cost our government, based on what we performed in our document, a bit more if we get the India and England games. There’s no argument over that at all. Okay. The president is aware of what we bid for and what we have been offered,” Riley further said.
Barbados is a pivotal island in the Caribbean, and the Indian team chose Kensington Oval stadium in the country as their training camp before the start of a full-fledged series against West Indies in July-August. However, sources within CWI claim that Riley is known for contradicting himself.
“I can confidently say that Conde Riley often fails to grasp the key distinctions between a proposal, a discussion, and a final decision. He has a history of conflicting his role as a CWI Director with his position as President of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA),” a senior CWI member commented. “CWI needs to part ways with senior directors like Riley, whose effectiveness has dwindled rapidly in recent years.”
