Unless something is done drastically, lovers of cricket here in St Vincent and the Grenadines may soon be hearing a sport’s eulogy. This as the sport locally has been in an ailing state over time, suffering from multiple complications.
However, the most recent executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association Inc. has allowed the health of the sport to deteriorate unchecked, thus causing it now to survive only on life support.
The column without fear of contradiction will categorically declare, that the outgoing executive of the SVGCA Inc. has taken the cake as the worst administrative concoction for any sporting discipline in the history of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Things have worsened under that administration. Since assuming the mandate of custodians of the national cricket programme in September, 2023, there has been accelerated retardation of the sport in the country.
Typified by little national competitions, namely at the youth level, which has left the sport without a nutritional base.
Glaringly, there has not been any concerted effort to address the sport’s youth development programme.
Consequently, selection of national age group teams has been left to chance, with play-off matches being the pathway of elimination.
The results emanating from the country’s participation in the Windward Islands tournaments thus speak for themselves. St Vincent and the Grenadines has the title deed as the owners of the last place in the Under-15 in the annual exposition of the four Windward Islands.
Likewise, as if taking the same medication, this country’s Under-19 outfit placed last in consecutive years- 2024 as well as 2025, and can complete the hat trick of cellar finishes in the ongoing 2026 tournament, should their inept form continue.
Sadly, the Under-19 unit suffered the indignity of being dismissed for 45 versus St Lucia in their opening fixture.
The overall poor showing by the Vincentians over time, has left the country with one or two picks for the Windwards for wider regional tournaments.
To add insult to injury, that deficiency has become contagious as the Windwards senior men’s and women’s teams, is starved of Vincentian presence. Whilst cricket all round in St Vincent and the Grenadines is in painful distress, the local administrators are immune to the worsening conditions.
Having been diagnosed as the root causes of the acute paralysis of cricket, they have not sought to address the decadence.
The protracted time taken to have an audited statement ready to facilitate the hosting of the SVGCA Inc.’s Annual General Meeting exemplifies the status of cricket.
Postponement, deferrals, and pleas of forgiveness have been the ordered prescription as the critical financial analysis of the association has left the organization ‘s integrity wanting.
The excruciating pain of the administrators’ lax approach to this issue of prudence and good stewardship of the association’s coffers is fast becoming a dire concern. But help may be around the corner, as a decision made at a Special General Meeting on Friday, April 10, 2026, whereby affiliates have told the sitting executive of the overstay of their mandate, is the most plausible solution to the crisis.
Set for May 9, 2026, at that proposed special meeting in which elections will be convened, hopefully affiliates will meticulously elect a group of personnel that will show care for its unwell patient.
Cricket here in St Vincent and the Grenadines is desirous of that antidote called commitment and will, as the previous caretakers were negligent, uncaring and their remedies fraught with side effects.
