For the first time since January 2020, Saint Lucia will host games in the West Indies Championship, the region’s four-day men’s cricket tournament.
After significant investment in the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground (DSCG) for last year’s ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup, the venue will host two matches involving the Windward Islands Volcanoes in this year’s First Class competition, which gets underway with four matches from January 29.
The eight teams, including two-time defending champions Guyana Harpy Eagles, will play a total of 28 matches over seven rounds between January and April.
The first fixture for DSCG will be a Round 4 clash against the Leeward Islands Hurricanes, March 5-8. The other will be a Round 6 tilt against 2022 champions Barbados Pride, April 3-5.
“It augurs well for us to be back on track as far as regional cricket is concerned,” said Kirby Sydney, general manager of Sports Saint Lucia Inc (SSI), the organisation that operates DSCG. “It gives our regional cricketers the opportunity to showcase their talents on a good pitch.”
Over the past year, SSI and the National Lotteries Authority, which owns the DSCG, have been working on a maintenance plan for the facility.
Since hosting six fixtures in the 2024 T20 World Cup, DSCG has hosted Saint Lucia Kings games in the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL), bilateral matches between West Indies and England, as well as the Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control (WICBC) Windward Islands Lottery Under-15 competition.
During the past year, the stadium staged four games in the October window of the Concacaf Nations League, as well as various concerts, including the Julien Alfred Homecoming. 2024 was tied for the second most active year in the 22-year history of the DSCG.
This recent activity is a marked contrast to what has occurred in recent years. Whereas the venue had 14 games in 2022, the most since 2013, those comprised only a West Indies A team series with Bangladesh A and the CPL. In 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023, the venue combined for 20 games. The last First Class game at DSCG was a lopsided loss to the Leewards in the 2020 season.
The Windward Islands Volcanoes will host Jamaica Scorpions at Arnos Vale Cricket Ground for their opening match, on January 29. The home team will bowl off their First Class campaign without West Indies players Kavem Hodge and Alick Athanaze, who will be wrapping up a two-Test series in Pakistan.
