"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail," Benjamin Franklin.
Cricket will return to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 after a 128-year absence. However, the chances of a Caribbean cricket team making it to the LA Olympics are becoming increasingly unlikely. While not impossible, the prospects are slim.
A primary reason for this–though not the only one–is that Olympic T20 cricket is simply not a priority for most stakeholders in Caribbean cricket. There are noteworthy exceptions, such as Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Kishore Shallow and chief executive officer (CEO) Chris Dehring. But the reality is that you don’t hear players talking about it, nor cricket leaders in the various territorial boards. For that matter, include the Caribbean cricket media. Yet in other parts of the cricket world, it's different; they are taking Olympic cricket seriously.
Following India's T20 World Championship win over New Zealand on Sunday, lifting the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men's T20 World Cup, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav immediately set his sights on the Games and the next edition of the tournament.
Immediately after the victory, the India skipper stated that an Olympic gold medal is now the team's next target. "The next goal is the Olympics. Olympic gold and also the T20 World Cup that year. Don't forget," Yadav declared.
In Australia and New Zealand, there is conversation around what will be the impact on Australia's automatic qualification hopes, given their disappointing play in India. On the other hand, will New Zealand's runner-up finish boost their chances?
The United States, as the host nation, is expected to automatically qualify.
The challenge for our region is unique: Olympic regulations will not allow the West Indies cricket team to compete as a single entity.
Furthermore, the Olympic cricket tournament in LA 2028 will only feature six teams. The proposal was ratified by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board on April 9, 2025. The objective is to include at least one nation from the five regions represented in the Olympic rings.
The top-ranked eligible team from each of the regions in the ICC T20 rankings at the cut-off date will qualify, and not just the best six teams in the world. The cut-off date for the Olympics qualification is expected to be the end of the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Once five teams qualify through their regions, the final spot will be decided in a global qualifying tournament. The details of this qualifying tournament, including the number of teams and format, are still to be announced by the ICC, but this pathway provides a final opportunity for teams that just missed out in their region.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has proposed an internal qualification tournament among the Caribbean countries, with the winner to participate in the ICC Olympic global qualifying tournament.
On the men's side, West Indies remain one of the most successful teams in T20 history, having won the T20 World Cup twice — in 2012 and 2016. But here is the thing with the lack of preparation and a clear objective: can any of the CWI member countries compete in a global qualifier against the might of Australia/New Zealand/Pakistan/Sri Lanka?
"Cricket’s return to the Games in 2028 must not exclude our young cricketers from the same dream that has inspired our athletes,” CWI president Kishore Shallow said.
Why, then, did cricket leaders in CWI member countries not heed their president's words? The thought that a Caribbean team will miss out on the historic LA 2028 Olympic T20 cricket should trouble the entire region. The fact that Olympic T20 cricket is not a priority is even more troubling.
Editor’s note: The views expressed in the preceding article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of any organisation in which he is a stakeholder
