Cricket West Indies President Dr Kishore Shallow has revealed why Caribbean cricket administrators have chosen to make financial cuts to regional tournaments in recent years.
Shallow spoke about the cuts during the second half of a two-part interview on the Super Over Podcast with Nikhil Uttamchandani and Carlos Brathwaite, on October 8. His remarks were released following the decision to limit the 2026 regional first-class season, played from April 12 to May 17, to a series-based, three-match format.
During the conversation, Dr Shallow reflected on the evolution of T20 cricket and the shifting attitudes toward this truncated version of the game compared to red-ball cricket. He noted that these attitudes form the basis for CWI’s investments, which align with market appetite – even though he and other cricket purists still prefer red-ball cricket. Shallow contends that favouring white-ball formats, where demand is higher, while continuing to safeguard grassroots development, is the way forward.
“If you are in a market then you have to look at what your consumers want. If you see that the appetite is greater for white ball, it is irresponsible for you to continue investing the majority of your resources in the product that the consumers don’t want,” he argued.
Shallow prefers a “different strokes for different folks” approach, noting that it is fine for players to specialise in a particular format, unlike what occurred under previous board presidencies.
He highlighted that the “hostile” approach of past administrations forced players to choose between representing the West Indies across all formats or not at all – a dynamic he emphasises has changed under the current leadership.
“We don’t tell our children not to specialise as a doctor and not to specialise in law. So why are we trying to force players into playing everything?” he said.
“One of the key considerations when we recruited Daren Sammy was such that we believe that he had a great understanding of the international model and the franchise model, that he could reach out to players and get them to commit to West Indies cricket while explaining to them or gaining their confidence that they’ll be allowed to play some franchise cricket as well…I think we have managed to achieve that.”
Dr Shallow added that the decision by former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran to retire from international cricket at age 29 – in the prime of his career – did not come as a surprise, though he had hoped Pooran would remain committed to the Men in Maroon. He stressed that Pooran “wasn’t the first, [and] he’s not going to be the last”, acknowledging that players have short careers and must maximise their earning potential to secure comfortable retirements.
