The long-running public disagreement between the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) over the allocation of international matches to Kensington Oval has reached a formal standstill, after BCA President Calvin Hope announced he will no longer engage in further public debate on the issue. Hope made his position clear in an exclusive interview with Barbados TODAY, responding to recent public comments from CWI Vice-President Azim Bassarath, noting that the conflict has already been discussed extensively across public platforms and it is time to bring the conversation to a close. Hope added that he already laid out his full position during a recent appearance on the Mason and Guest Cricket Show, and has no new statements to add to the public record.
“As far as I am concerned, Mr Bassarath knows very well what my concerns are and what I said. All others involved would have known what my concerns are as well, and these are not new things,” Hope told reporters. “I don’t have anything more to add at this time. I made my comment, that’s the end of that as far as I’m concerned. Cricket West Indies will do what they have to do, and I just hope that things would improve, that’s all I could say.”
The core of the dispute stems from CWI’s 2025 decision to exclude Barbados and its iconic Kensington Oval from the year’s schedule of international cricket matches. Hope has long criticized the call as unreasonable, a position he says is shared by ordinary cricket fans across the country. “But I really don’t want to get into it because Barbados shouldn’t have to be trying to justify why cricket should be held in Barbados or anything like that. Reasonableness should always be obtained, and basically I would say that there was no reasonableness in this,” Hope explained. “Anybody looking on, the average man on the Black Rock bus would hold that view, given the number of international matches that are scheduled to be hosted across the Caribbean region this year. So I don’t want to get into anything more.”
With the public dispute put aside, Hope is now turning his full attention to growing the domestic game, as the 2026 BCA season officially got underway on April 4. The association has launched a series of new initiatives aimed at strengthening grassroots cricket, which Hope calls the backbone of the Caribbean sport. Key priorities include upgrading club administration, boosting competitive standards across all levels of domestic play, and rolling out new incentive programs designed to keep emerging players motivated.
Thus far, the response to the new reforms has been encouraging, according to the BCA president. “Well it appears that there’s some enthusiasm with the new initiatives and things got off to a reasonable start. I think clubs are enthusiastic, certainly at the elite level,” Hope noted. “We will be working with the clubs going forward in an effort to have a successful season as usual. Our domestic cricket is usually very successful, with no major incidents and so forth.”
For the BCA, sustaining the legacy of grassroots club and school cricket is a non-negotiable long-term priority, as these levels are the foundation for developing future elite international talent. “To sustain the legacy of our club cricket is very, very important, it is the mainstay of all cricket. And when I say club cricket, I include schools’ cricket [because] schools are the bedrock of the production line,” Hope said. “These are things for a number of years that the BCA has been cognizant of that need to be strengthened, and we just need to provide support where we can and encourage and support each other.”
Hope also threw his full support behind a recent call from Cricket Legends of Barbados Chairman Joel Garner to increase television coverage of local domestic matches, a move designed to attract younger audiences and deepen public connection to the sport. Echoing Garner’s vision, Hope confirmed the BCA has long prioritized expanding media access to domestic cricket, and has already secured regular weekly radio commentary for match days. The association now aims to translate that success to television broadcast.
“The plan is always to promote cricket, and we are engaging all the time with the media to broadcast cricket. For years now we have had the (radio) commentary going every Saturday. I want cricket shown on TV and I share The Most Honourable Joel Garner’s concern and my desire would be to have cricket on television too,” Hope said.
While building a polished, viewer-friendly television broadcast requires significant investment in equipment and production infrastructure, Hope says the goal is well within the BCA’s long-term capabilities. “It’s all about building a media product. You need equipment and the various things of how you put that product together for people for it to be attractive to the viewer. It’s not a straightforward situation, but it is not outside of our capability,” Hope said. “I certainly will continue to work towards that and try to engage with the board and relevant authorities to see how we can pull off things like that in the future. It’s all about promotion of the game.”