Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cricket West Indies (CWI), Johnny Grave says no decision has been made yet relating to this season’s Super50 and next year’s West Indies Regional Four-Day Championships.
In a WhatsApp communication with this publication on Monday, Grave added that the body will be reviewing both tournaments in the upcoming months.
President of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board Azim Bassarath has stated that the Super50 tournament has been cancelled.
In a Newsday article Bassarath is quoted as saying “CWI has also to cancel the Regional Super50 Cup and to reduce the 2021 Regional 4-day Tournament to just five rounds with each territorial team playing each other once which has minimized the amount of regional cricket being played.”
CWI had already taken a decision to cancel the final two rounds of last year’s double round robin four-day championship in light of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
West Indies Emerging Players are the reigning Super50 champions while Barbados Pride ended Guyana Jaguar’s five-year winning streak in the four-day championship.
Bassarath asserted that the cost-cutting measures were as a result of the financial impact CWI is facing. Last Week CWI made a decision to slash salaries and territorial board allocations in half.
A release from the body last week posited that the reduction in finances, which they expect to last no longer than “three to six months,” was due to the economic impact COVID-19 has had on the Caribbean since no international cricket is being played.
Additionally, Grave also revealed that the cash-strapped CWI had “received a short-term interest free advance of US$3M from the ECB [England Cricket Board] in early May which is guaranteed to be paid back by the ICC in July.”
