‘Purely financial’

West Indies players celebrate the dismissal of Mitchell Marsh of Australia during the first Twenty20 match at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica, on July 20, 2025. (Photo: AFP) WITH cricket in the Caribbean at a financial crossroads, Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) President Dr Donovan Bennett says the association’s interest in hosting India and England next year is driven purely by the need to boost its limited revenues. The West Indies will host the two international cricket powerhouses in 2027 in what could be the region’s only major international series next year. Although not announced by the respective cricket boards or the ICC, it’s been reported that reigning Twenty20 (T20) World Cup champions India will visit the Caribbean next summer for two Tests, three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and five T20s. England are scheduled to arrive next December to play the Windies in five T20s in preparation for the 2028 T20 World Cup. Despite revealing significant financial challenges in September, Cricket West Indies (CWI) stands to earn substantial revenue from hosting India and England, with both tours expected to be more lucrative than recent series involving other Test-playing nations. West Indies player Shimron Hetmyer takes the catch to dismiss New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill during the first T20 International cricket match at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, on August 10, 2022. (Photo: AFP) The Jamaica Observer first reported the JCA’s interest to host matches from the two tours back in June. The Observer has learnt that Cricket West Indies is looking to finalise the host territories for the India series before the end of the year. Sabina Park has been a primary venue for the West Indies over the past few years, hosting South Africa and Bangladesh in 2024, Australia in 2025 and Sri Lanka last summer. Bennett told the Observer that the JCA formally expressed their interest and revealed that it’s eyeing the T20 encounters with the highly ranked Indians and England. “When they [CWI] start negotiations for the legal part of the arrangement, they just want to know who they’re to deal with and who aren’t interested,” he said. “So Jamaica has sent off communication to the West Indies board, saying that they are interested in hosting three T20s against the Indians and two T20s against the English team. And I want to stress the words interested in hosting because that is where it is right now.” “CWI will now have to send out a document explaining what the commitments will be to host those games and then the territory will then have to decide whether they are receptive to that type of financial arrangement, or they are not interested.” West Indies captain Shai Hope (right) plays a shot as India wicketkeeper Sanju Samson looks on during the second Twenty20 International cricket match at JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi, India, on October 9, 2026. (Photo: AFP) When elected as JCA president in April 2024, Bennett said he wanted to bring more international cricket to the island in a bid to revive local interest in the sport. However, he says the desire to host the India and England tours next year is strictly financial with boths teams capable of generating millions of US dollars. Bennett is hoping the Government will help secure the tours, although the ultimate decision will be out of the JCA’s hands. “This is purely a financial decision that we have right now facing us and it is dependent on the government to decide whether they think it’s an investment that will be for the benefit of the tourism product in the country,” he said. “All the other benefits are given. Of course, it will help cricket in Jamaica. Of course, it will generate interest in the game in Jamaica but the main one is a financial consideration that is beyond us. At the end of the day, it is a governmental decision and it has to do with whether the Government thinks it’s a good business to invest that money or they don’t think so.” “There are serious implications regarding tourism because the English team, when they are travelling, they come with 4,000 or 5,000 spectators who come into the country. There’s a tremendous amount of Indians that are living in the USA, especially on the Eastern Seaboard, which is a very short trip down to Jamaica and I have been told that the Ministry of Tourism has an interest in penetrating that market.” Jamaica is expected to receive strong competition as Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda and St Lucia are among the other Caribbean countries who are said to have an interest in hosting games. Jamaica Cricket Association President Dr Donovan Bennett (Photo: Karl Mclarty)