West Indies cricket, a sport woven deep into the cultural fabric of the Caribbean, has found itself at the center of a dramatic political reversal from one of the region’s most prominent cricket advocates. Ralph Gonsalves, the former Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and a past chair of the Caricom cricket subcommittee, has publicly acknowledged he made a wrong call in supporting the current Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Dr. Kishore Shallow, and now says the regional game was far better managed during Dave Cameron’s tenure as the top CWI official.
Cameron, a Jamaican administrator who led CWI for six years between 2013 and 2019, has long been a divisive figure in Caribbean cricket circles, drawing fierce criticism from many quarters including Gonsalves himself during his time in office. But in a revealing interview with the Jamaica Observer, Gonsalves said his perspective has shifted dramatically amid what he sees as ongoing stagnation and mismanagement under Shallow’s leadership.
Shallow’s journey to the CWI presidency began in 2019, when he ran as vice-president alongside presidential candidate Ricky Skerritt. The pair defeated the incumbent Cameron, with Gonsalves throwing his full public support behind their campaign at the time. Back then, Gonsalves praised Shallow and Skerritt as forward-thinking, modern Caribbean leaders with progressive plans to revitalize the regional sport, calling them serious leaders rooted in Caribbean culture. Shallow stepped into the presidency in March 2023 after Skerritt’s departure, and recently announced he will not run for re-election when his term ends in 2028, bringing his total tenure on the CWI executive to almost a decade when he leaves office.
Over the past two years, however, Gonsalves has emerged as one of Shallow’s most vocal critics, repeatedly calling for his resignation over the sharp decline of the West Indies men’s national team – a call that grew louder following the side’s heavy Test defeat to Australia in Jamaica last summer. Gonsalves has also argued that Shallow should have stepped down from the CWI presidency immediately after he won a seat in St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ general election and was appointed the country’s Tourism Minister, citing a conflict of commitment.
Speaking to the outlet, Gonsalves did not mince words about his change of heart. “I was wrong about Shallow. I thought that he had the depth to carry this thing to see what this issue was about and he turned out in disrespect to possess a shallow perspective,” he said. “You say to me ‘but Ralph, you supported him’ and I said to you, yes and a man is entitled to at least one mistake in his life.”
Gonsalves leveled harsh criticism at the direction of CWI under Shallow’s leadership, arguing the governing body has become overly deferential to global cricket power dynamics dominated by what he called “Indian cricket imperialism,” tied to the massive Indian television audience that gives the Board of Control for Cricket in India outsized influence over the International Cricket Council (ICC). He claimed CWI now derives its legitimacy from the ICC rather than the Caribbean people it is meant to serve, and that regional member associations are locked in a patron-client relationship with CWI leadership rather than focusing on growing the sport at the grassroots level.
He dismissed all institutional reforms pushed through under Shallow’s tenure as superficial, saying changes such as adjusting the presidential term length from two to three years and minor tweaks to voting rules are minor, esoteric changes that have no meaningful impact on the actual health of Caribbean cricket.
Looking back at Cameron’s leadership, Gonsalves said there is no question that West Indies cricket performed far better during the Jamaican’s time in charge. Though Gonsalves was a prominent critic of Cameron during his presidency, he now believes Cameron has reflected on missteps from his tenure, and his creative leadership would be a marked improvement over the current administration. While Gonsalves stopped short of explicitly calling for Cameron to run for the presidency again in the next CWI election, he made clear he sees the former leader as a far better fit for the role than Shallow and his current executive team.
Gonsalves added that even at his most confrontational with Caribbean governments, Cameron never disrespected cricket professionals the way the current CWI leadership has, and noted that Cameron remains deeply committed to the success of West Indies cricket. Photos accompanying the interview capture Shallow, Cameron, Gonsalves, and the July 2025 Test match against Australia that underscored the national team’s ongoing struggles, where young batsman Mikyle Louis was bowled by Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood during the day-night third Test at Kingston’s Sabina Park.