Regional cricket across the Windward Islands is poised for a transformative shift following Thursday’s official announcement that the Windward Islands Volcanoes professional cricket franchise will establish its permanent home base in Saint Lucia, effective October 1.
For years, the franchise has moved its operations across multiple Eastern Caribbean nations, with stints based in Dominica, Grenada, and most recently St Vincent and the Grenadines, where it has operated out of Arnos Vale since 2023. Under the terms of the new agreement, the Volcanoes will be headquartered at Saint Lucia’s iconic Daren Sammy Cricket Ground for a minimum three-year tenure.
The relocation is formalized through a binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Saint Lucia’s Department of Youth Development and Sports and the Windward Islands Cricket Board (WICB). A public signing ceremony to mark the agreement is scheduled to take place Friday morning at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground Players Pavilion.
Leadership on both sides of the agreement includes Wayne Auguste, head of the Saint Lucia National Cricket Association who also serves as WICB vice president alongside WICB President Clement Marcellin of Dominica. The franchise announcement comes one month after the Volcanoes opened a head coaching search, following former coach Kenroy Peters’ step down from the role earlier this year.
Officials frame the move as a tangible demonstration of strong cross-regional collaboration and widespread confidence in the quality of Saint Lucia’s world-class first-class cricket infrastructure. In the coming weeks, the island will welcome back Bob Carter, the former New Zealand national team batting coach who was recently appointed batting consultant for Cricket West Indies, to lead an elite high-performance training camp for Volcanoes players at the Daren Sammy ground. Carter previously led a successful high-level camp for the Saint Lucia Cricket High Performance Centre earlier this summer.
The decision to base the Volcanoes at the Beausejour-located Daren Sammy Cricket Ground delivers a substantial, long-lasting boost to grassroots cricket development across Saint Lucia. Fifteen full-time contracted Volcanoes players will conduct daily training sessions in Gros Islet alongside the national high-performance program’s technical staff. Local Saint Lucian rising cricket stars including Ackeem Auguste, Keon Gaston, Kimani Melius, Noelle Leo and Shadrack Descarte will gain unprecedented access to elite, daily training opportunities without leaving their home country.
Establishing a full-time professional franchise on the island creates a clear, structured development pipeline for emerging local talent. Young amateur players and aspiring local coaches will now gain regular, hands-on opportunities to train alongside some of the region’s top cricketers, accelerating their skill growth and career advancement.
Beyond on-field benefits, hosting the Volcanoes year-round reinforces Saint Lucia’s standing as a premier destination for regional and international cricket events. Officials project that a permanent professional team based on the island will stimulate the local economy, draw increased sports tourism from across the Caribbean and beyond, and ensure consistent year-round usage of the country’s flagship cricket facility.