The nation’s cricket landscape is evolving, and the Saint Lucia Cricket High Performance Centre (HPC) is poised to be a key player in that transformation. The centre, now primarily operating at the Mindoo Phillip Park, was envisioned as a conduit for developing local talent into technically sound players of international standard. While that long-term vision remains ambitious, recent activities, such as a two-day coaching workshop held on October 31 and November 1 at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, represent a vital step in a broader journey.
The workshop brought together coaches from the High Performance Centre and across the island to learn game-changing skills to enhance their ability to develop the next generation of talent. Topics covered included talent identification, high-performance planning, fast bowling and injury and load management.
This event forms part of a broader vision for the development of the sport, spearheaded by Wayne Auguste, president of the Saint Lucia National Cricket Association.
During the launch of the inaugural Under-13 Cricket Championships in mid-October, Auguste stated in no uncertain terms his intention to elevate standards at the HPC. Now, in collaboration with key stakeholders, he has officially begun turning those words into meaningful action.
“The importance of that programme is to ensure alignment between what the West Indies are doing, what they’re seeking to do, and what we are doing here,” Auguste told St. Lucia Times. “Because the government invests pretty large amounts of money into this programme, we’ve developed quite a few young players, and we want to ensure our programme is aligned to that of Cricket West Indies and pegged against what we consider to be an international standard.”
Interestingly, the first day of the conference coincided with the West Indies’ final match of a three-game T20 international series against Bangladesh, a game in which Saint Lucian Ackeem Auguste scored a half-century. Auguste is a prime example of what advanced training can produce. He was among the select few chosen for the West Indies Cricket Academy, a development-focused team designed to nurture emerging talent across the Caribbean through regional first-class and List A tournaments. This opportunity has afforded the 22-year-old batsman the chance to flourish at the professional level, with his progress now evident in both franchise and international cricket.
Much of Auguste’s development is credited to Ramesh Subasinghe, a former Sri Lankan first-class cricketer and seasoned development specialist, who served as the chief facilitator for the two-day workshop. He has served as head coach of the West Indies Academy since 2024 and is a former head coach of New Zealand’s Men’s Development Programme.
“I think every island is very important for West Indies cricket, because now you’ve seen young Ackeem Auguste coming through Saint Lucia and thriving at international cricket as a very young player,” Subasinghe said. “So the more information, the more knowledge, more capability the coaches have here is going to help develop more players for the West Indies system. That’s why I think it’s very important that we start exposing players and coaches to high-performance programmes from their respective islands feeding into the West Indies cricket system.”
Craig Emmanuel, chairman of the HPC Board of Directors, a coach and former first-class player, participated in the programme and acted as a liaison between Cricket West Indies and Cricket Saint Lucia. He is credited with spearheading the initiative and expressed satisfaction with its impact, noting that it addressed critical gaps in the island’s coaching landscape.
“We’ve pretty much, as a board of directors, been focusing on providing our boys at the HPC with the very best experience; the structures and the soft skills that will render them the best possible opportunities of reaching the highest level of cricket.
“What we would have realised is that within the shores of Saint Lucia, there are indeed operational and functional coaches, but we at this point are not particularly sure that the coaches we have are equipped enough to take the boys to the horizons that we aspire for them. Myself and the rest of my directors at the HPC board would have made this possible. It has been something that has been within our thoughts and consideration for some time. So I’m quite happy and elated to have actually actualised that ambition.”
Cricket continues to be a viable pathway for Saint Lucian youth, both boys and girls, and the people tasked with guiding the next generation are now better equipped to turn young athletes’ dreams into reality.
