Sanjay Govil, an India-raised US tech entrepreneur, likes to think outside the box and plan ahead. Unsurprising, given he’s a highly successful businessman with a rags to riches story that made Govil a fortune and seen him become one of the more interesting T20 franchise owners in world cricket.

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About 15 or so years ago I was driving through Porus in Jamaica when I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. I hadn’t seen it in a while and haven’t seen it since; but there, as I negotiated a corner, was a cleared lot of land to my right, and on it there were about ten boys playing cricket.

I sometimes stay at my parents’ home in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. On the opposite side of the road lived some children who were often joined by other kids in the neighbourhood to play. They always started early in the mornings and engaged in various types of activities – football, marbles, rode bicycles. But I never once saw them play cricket.

Forty years ago this would not have been the case. Cricket was a popular sport played all over the country on almost every available strip of land. Often, it was played with makeshift gear: bats carved out of wood or from coconut branches, crude balls made from stones and rubber, the bounce of which was uncertain, and maybe a piece of zinc for a wicket.

Many of the region’s greatest players developed their game playing this kind of cricket. George Headley played every day with other boys from his community. One story is that he once batted two or three days without getting out.

Michael Holding and boys from his neighbourhood played on a patch of ground in the Red Hills area of St Andrew, Jamaica. They played regularly for many hours at a time, as boys did all over the island.

Many communities, and major companies like banks, sugar estates and other large organizations, had decent cricket teams and would arrange matches with each other. As a boy I recall going on an outing with an outfit called the Devon cricket team – Devon being the name of the community from which they came.

They were good and had a large following. They even had their own team song. I remember two names from the side – Nene and Blue. Nene was a left-armed fast bowler, aging at the time I saw him but still threatening. Blue was a very attractive and forthright right-handed stroke player. I don’t think I exaggerate when I say this: if those better players of the Devon team were playing today they’d have not been far from national selection.

The team they travelled to play was one from the Half Moon hotel in Montego Bay. Devon won easily as I remember. Nene got three or four wickets. Blue didn’t get many, maybe 20 or so, but he gave more than a glimpse of his quality. I remember one square cut that had the gathering talking about West Indies opener Gordon Greenidge. When he got out the disappointment of the traveling throng was palpable.

The community of Cobbla is about four or so miles from Devon and they had a decent team as well. I went many a weekend to watch them play and their games attracted a fair-sized crowd, members of which were quick to bellow advice and criticisms. They had a famous player at one point – Seymour Newman, a world-class 400- and 800-metre runner who represented Jamaica in the 1976 Montreal and 1980 Moscow Olympics.

He was also a fast bowler with a smooth action. He told me once that no less a person than Allan Rae, former West Indies opener and one-time president of the West Indies Cricket Board of Control, told him that he was a yard or so quicker than Michael Holding, alongside whom he represented Jamaica at youth level.

The above is to emphasise the depth to which cricket penetrated the fabric of the community. The game was popular and widespread, attracting intense participation and solid support. That is why West Indies cricket was strong for a long time. And it is the diminution of that participation and support why its strength has waned to such a marked degree.

What we are witnessing in Jamaica and, I’m sure, the rest of the Caribbean is a shift in culture. Yes, there is a lack of proper infrastructure and there might be a lack of high-quality leadership in Caribbean cricket. But those have been long-standing issues that plagued the region even when their cricketers ruled the world.

Over the years, the West Indies have changed captains, coaches, selectors and presidents – all to no avail. That’s because the real issue is not one of personnel. It goes much deeper than that.

Track and field, sprinting in particular, is a passion in Jamaica. Children are coached and encouraged to run and to compete in every school in the country. Every school has a sports day each year when houses compete against each other in almost every track and field event. It is one of the most anticipated days of the school year, attracting large numbers of parents, past students, vendors, and community members.

The best from sports day are chosen to represent their school in regional meets, Eastern, Central and Western Championships. The culmination of all this is the Boys and Girls Athletic Championships, or simply – Champs.

Champs is like a mini-Olympics. It is held at the National Stadium in Kingston over five days and all high schools are welcome to participate. Huge crowds from all over the island turn up. My brother-in-law, Winston, is a Kingston College (KC) old boy. He often travels to Jamaica from the US just for Champs, as do many others.

The competition is fierce, and the best from Champs are often offered scholarships to colleges in the United States. Some join the growing number of elite coaching camps in Jamaica, such as Glen Mills’ Racers Track Club, one-time home of Usain Bolt, the greatest male sprinter ever, and Stephen Francis’ MVP Track Club, where Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, perhaps the greatest female sprinter of all time, once trained.

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The point I’m making is that the large pool of participation and support leads to a product that ranks with any in the world. Jamaica is not a country of hefty resources, but if you are talented in track and field, chances are you will be discovered and offered the kind of nurturing and assistance that could make you a standout.

Cricket no longer has that kind of ecosystem. Track and field comes to you wherever you are. On the other hand you have to actively seek cricket out and even then you might not find it. The once-large pool has dwindled, and the game is apparently no longer as attractive an option as any of its competitors vying for the hearts and minds of the Caribbean people. Somewhere in Guyana or Jamaica or Antigua or St. Kitts or St. Lucia or any of the West Indian territories, might well be a Brian Lara, a Deandra Dottin, a Viv Richards, a Malcolm Marshall, a Hayley Matthews, a Courtney Walsh or a Lance Gibbs lurking.

But how will we know if they never get to hold a bat or bowl a ball? There might very well be potential Stafanie Taylors, Michael Holdings and Lawrence Rowes around, but if they are like my kids and nieces and nephews, they’re probably inside playing video games and not outside playing cricket.

Last year, West Indies cricket descended to what some say was its lowest ebb when they were dismissed for 27 – the second-lowest total in Test history – in the second innings of their Test against Australia in Jamaica.

Then in the first Test of the following series against India they were dismissed for 168 and 146. Roston Chase’s men showed improvement in the second Test with second innings hundreds from John Campbell and Shai Hope but they still lost badly by seven wickets after following on.

As humiliating a period as this is, however, it is not at all surprising to those paying close attention. We have all witnessed the deterioration over time. In response, Cricket West Indies summoned some of its great men – Clive Lloyd, Vivian Richards and Brian Lara and others – to meet with its cricket committee to discuss the issues and to provide suggestions.

We hope some good will come of this but this is not the first time the greats have been pressed into service. We hope, also, that the focus on administration and selection is shifted elsewhere. These issues have long been considered and discussed to little avail. Not that there are no improvements to be made in these areas, but these matters are not at the heart of the problems facing West Indies cricket.

What the regional authorities need to address is this: how do they make cricket popular again? How do they get more people playing and watching? How do they rekindle the kind of interest and enthusiasm in the game that saw huge crowds turning out for Test matches and even for regional games?

In early 1986 England toured the Caribbean. Shortly before they arrived, the regional first-class competition, then called The Red Stripe Cup was in progress and a particularly mouth-watering contest was approaching.

It was between Barbados and Jamaica, and it was to feature some of the biggest stars in the cricketing firmament. For Jamaica, there were Michael Holding, Courtney Walsh, Patrick Patterson and Jeffrey Dujon, and among the Barbadians were Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner.

The highly anticipated skirmish was dubbed “the first Test” and drew a huge gathering. Today they’d likely have less than a hundred people witnessing a red-ball game between those two countries.

Some years ago, when cricket was removed from free-to-air television and put onto cable in Jamaica, I feared a blow had been dealt to maintaining and increasing interest in a game that had already shown signs of declining popularity. I don’t know what effect it had, but I doubt it would have been favourable. I saw it furthering the overall decline.

The difficult task CWI has is to halt the decline and get things moving in the opposite direction. Growing and developing the cricket community in the Caribbean is vital for sustainable improvement of the game. I don’t presume to have the answers, but kids must start playing again, both in schools and in their neighbourhoods. The pool of young players needs to be increased.

Consider this: in an article written by Garfield Myers in the Jamaica Observer on October 21 2023, coach for Manchester High in Jamaica, Burtram “Barry” Barnes lamented the decline in schoolboy cricket.

According to Barnes, when he started coaching the school in 2007 there were more than 50 schools playing in the Headley Cup, the rural U19 cricket competition. By 2023, however only 41 schools were involved in cricket over the entire Island – 27 in the Headley Cup and 14 in the urban equivalent, the Grace Shield. This represents a near-fatal depletion of the talent pipeline that used to feed our first-class cricket.

I know cricket equipment is costly, but it will be necessary to make gear available to those being encouraged to play as there will be no return to the days of coconut bats and rubber- wrapped balls.

The administrators must somehow obtain funding for proper equipment to be widely distributed. An informal game of football requires one ball, a bit of space, and a few willing participants. Cricket requires balls, bats, stumps, pads, gloves and more. It is a far more costly undertaking, even at its most basic level.

Cricket can learn something from track and field. The game has to start saturating school and community life again. We need systematic engagement: competitions at every level, coaching in every school, making cricket as unavoidable as running is at school. The game has to seek out young talent instead of it waiting to be found, or those 10 boys playing in Porus 15 years ago will forever be a distant memory.

CWI has its work cut out.

Those of us who follow cricket have heard, countless times, that the ball swings more under overcast skies.

This is common knowledge that has been around for a very long time. Almost everyone involved in the game is aware of the phenomenon and cites it frequently, especially when the action is taking place in England where bad weather is a frequent threat.

Swing bowlers smile and lick their lips at the thought of bowling under cloud-laden skies; batters worry about playing and missing and searching and not finding balls that seem to swerve at the last moment. So yes, the relationship between overcast conditions and swing is established cricket knowledge. It has been for a long time.

Except, it’s not true. There is no relationship between cloud cover and a cricket ball’s inclination to deviate in the air.

Aerodynamics experts such as Dr. Rabi Mehta, for example, former NASA scientist and former new-ball partner of cricket legend Imran Khan have carried out studies that have long established that overcast conditions do not accentuate swing.

And despite years of publications and interviews on the matter, his findings have fallen overwhelmingly on deaf ears.

Many fans and pundits, including some who are aware of Dr Mehta’s work, remain convinced that there is a connection between swing and the weather.

On this topic, many of us in cricket are like members of the modern flat earth societies, who hold that the earth is flat and not a sphere despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.

Many of us refuse to accept science when it collides with our long-held beliefs or when it contradicts some view we are invested in and have espoused over a long time.

Take, for instance, the long-held idea that arthritis sufferers feel more pain in cold weather. It is not true and researchers have long proven that there is no connection between arthritis pain and temperature.

But many arthritis patients, even those who are aware of the research, remain convinced there is some correlation. Even when renowned researchers, Don Redelmeier and Amos Tversky showed patients the evidence, the vast majority of them still clung to their old belief.

Citing Redelmeier’s and Tversky’s research, Michael Lewis, of Moneyball fame, writes in his book, The Undoing Project, that patients used a few random moments to underpin their belief.

“For arthritis, selective matching leads people to look for changes in the weather when they experienced increase pain, and pay little attention to the weather when their pain is stable... [A] single day of severe pain and extreme weather might sustain a lifetime of belief in a relation between them,” Lewis wrote.

Selective matching is also what many of us in cricket do. We remember it swinging on a murky morning in Leeds, but forget it swinging just as much on a sunny afternoon in Barbados.

The 1972 Lord’s Ashes Test is recorded in history as Massie’s Match. Why? Because the Australian seam bowler, in a masterful exhibition of swing bowling, totally dismantled the home side with match figures of 16 for 137.

Waking up that morning, the bowler was happy to see “greyness” outside his window, “I knew it was going to be a day that if I, you know, bowled fairly well, I should get wickets because it was one of those tailor-made days for swing bowling,” Massie said.

Though there are studies dating back to the 1950s contradicting the swing/weather association, Massie might not have known about them. But, cricket pundits nowadays ought to know better, especially since many of them are well aware of the studies that have been done on the matter and have had conversations with researchers like Mehta.

Additionally, no less an expert than former England fast bowler Jimmy Anderson, taker of 704 Test wickets and the man who was the game’s foremost practitioner of the art, had this to say on the matter in an ECB video from 2015.

“There have been days when the sun is out and the ball swings and some days when it is freezing cold at the end of April and it swings. I couldn’t tell you when it is going to swing, NO!” he said.

Studies done on the question of what causes a cricket ball to swing have all yielded the same result: it matters not one jot whether it is cloudy or clear or humid or dry. The swing generated has nothing to do with the weather.

Dr. Mehta, in an article for a special physics edition of Teacher Plus magazine, wrote this.

“How many times have you heard cricket commentators refer to humid or damp conditions as constituting a ‘heavy’ atmosphere? This implies an increased air density and it turns out that the side force on a cricket ball is directly proportional to the air density,” he wrote.

“Well, the fact is that humid air is actually less dense than dry air.”

This should have been more than enough to debunk the idea that humid air aids swing, and yet the idea lives.

It turns out, however, that there is a slight relationship between swing and temperature. Cold air is denser than hot air and so we should ignore cricketers and pundits whenever they say “it is too cold to swing.”

“The air density is higher on a cold day compared to that on a hot day,” Dr Mehta wrote.

“However, the dependence is not very strong with the air density being only about 4% higher at 15 degrees Celsius compared to that at 25 degrees Celsius.

“This means that a ball which swings about 2 feet at 25 degrees Celsius will deviate about another inch at 15 degrees Celsius. This is obviously not enough to explain what is observed on a cricket ground.”

Swing is indeed a troublesome subject and the misapprehensions about what causes a cricket ball to swing are many.

But the evidence suggests that the weather conditions so often mentioned by commentators and cricketers have little or no meaningful effect on the cricket ball’s tendency to swing.

The overcast conditions that make fast bowlers smile and batters nervous may therefore have more to do with psychology or cricket mythology than aerodynamics.

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For millions of visitors, the Indonesian island of Bali is synonymous with beaches, Hindu temples, rice paddies, resorts, cheap drinks and postcard perfect sunsets.

But away from the familiar tourist trails, a rather remarkable sporting story is taking shape. That of cricket!

While the “Island of Gods” has played a central role in Indonesia’s cricket development over many years, the construction of a new flagship stadium and a high-performance centre in Bali’s northern regions is set to add another dimension to the sport’s growth.

Abhiram Yadav, Chairman of Persatuan Cricket Indonesia (PCI), joined the Cricket Financial Journal to discuss the new oval, rising participation numbers and Bali’s future as a major cricket hub in Southeast Asia.

WACA’s Role in Development

Bali is often jokingly referred to as a ‘second home’ for Western Australians, given the island’s proximity to Perth, the state capital. It actually takes less time for West Aussies to fly to Bali (3.5 hours) than any of the eastern coast cities such as Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

This proximity combined with the currency advantage has driven high tourist numbers from Western Australia to Bali. So, it’s only natural that this relationship extends to cricket as well!

In January 2024, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) and PCI, which Yadav describes as “one of the most important international development partnerships for Indonesian cricket.”

It’s a structured collaboration with initiatives targeting the development of young male and female players, as well as coaches. The partnership is built around four principal areas: High-Performance Support, Athlete Development, Coach Development and Facility Development.

“In practical terms, this has meant WA Cricket sharing expertise from one of Australia’s strongest cricket systems with our national programmes in Indonesia,” Yadav said.

“Their coaches and specialists have worked directly with our players and staff in Bali in areas such as technical coaching, strength and conditioning, sports science and sports medicine, mental skills, umpiring and high-performance planning.”

The relationship has also created genuine player pathways. Last year, the Indonesian women’s national team travelled to Western Australia for a training camp.

Plus, during the 2024/25 WBBL, Ni Made Putri Suwandewi made history by becoming the first Indonesian player to join Perth Scorchers as a WBBL Associate Rookie.

“That was a very important moment for Indonesian cricket because it showed our young players that a pathway can exist from Indonesia into a world-class professional cricket environment,” exclaimed Yadav.

Bali International Oval – A Gamechanger

Elsewhere on the infrastructure front, WACA is providing strategic advice and consultation on the construction of the Bali International Oval.

“WACA’s specialists have visited Bali and shared useful external observations and technical feedback on turf and clay selection, drainage, irrigation and broader facility design,” Yadav said.

“We value that input, and we would be very happy to deepen that co-operation in the future as we continue raising the quality of our infrastructure.”

The oval is a flagship PCI led project, one that is poised to dramatically transform the face of Indonesian cricket upon completion. The complex is being developed on approximately four hectares in Sanggalangit, North Bali, with two full international standard turf-wicket grounds and supporting high-performance facilities.

“Our wider plan is for it to support national team preparation, a national academy environment, international competition and long-term player development,” Yadav said.

“For Indonesian cricket, the move from predominantly synthetic surfaces to a two-ground natural-turf complex is a major step.”

Once established, the complex will take the name of ‘Garuda National Cricket Academy’ (GNCA) and will open Bali up to host more high-profile international events.

Construction is ongoing with the ground works being well advanced. However, PCI has resisted the temptation to attach an artificial opening date to the project. Instead, the organisation has opted to bring the facility into staged cricket use as key technical milestones are met.

“Our approach has been deliberately careful. A turf cricket ground is not ready simply because the construction machinery leaves the site,” Yadav said.

“The wicket squares need to establish and mature properly; the outfields, drainage and irrigation systems need to be tested thoroughly. The venue needs the appropriate technical and operational checks before we stage major matches.”

The early technical work on the turf and wicket layers was undertaken with the help of the late Shiv Kumar Yadav - a highly respected BCCI-affiliated curator with experience of preparing pitches for more than 200 matches.

Unfortunately, he tragically passed away in February after sudden heart failure. However, Yadav, the current chairman, assured me that “Shiv Kumar’s work and legacy will now be carried forward by PCI’s experienced Indian curator team”.

Indonesian Cricket – No Longer Expat Dominated

Over recent years, the face of Indonesian cricket has changed significantly, transforming from a largely expatriate driven sport to one that is genuinely embraced by local communities.

“We have achieved good growth through schools, provincial programmes, women’s cricket and youth pathways,” Yadav said.

“PCI now has cricket structures active across more than 20 provinces. Across that wider development ecosystem, our current estimate is that we have around 200,000 participants and young players, with half of them being women and girls.”

Those are indeed impressive participation numbers. Combine that with Indonesia’s massive population of 288 million and a growing economy - therefore, it’s not a surprise that the ICC has its eyes on Indonesia as a potential target market for growing the game’s fanbase.

As the Cricket Financial Journal first reported in August, the next round of ICC meetings is set to take place in Bali in November.

Interestingly, Indonesia already has a traditional bat-and-ball culture game in the form of Kasti, a sport similar to softball or rounders. PCI is keen to leverage that familiarity as a bridge when introducing cricket to children in schools.

“We are trying to build a clear pathway for our juniors: entry-level school activity, structured coaching, provincial competition, national age-group championships, talent identification, academy and high-performance programmes and then eventually U16 / U19 and senior national teams,” Yadav said.

“We are also investing in Indonesian coaches, umpires and administrators because participation only becomes sustainable if the local workforce grows with the playing numbers.”

Yadav emphasised that having a robust development system in place has already helped Indonesian cricket deliver visible on-field results, particularly on the women’s side.

“Our women qualified for their first-ever Women’s Asia Cup recently. We also qualified for the 2026 ACC Women’s U19 Asia Cup after reaching the semi-finals of the ACC Women’s U19 Premier Cup,” he said.

“Our programmes like ‘Cricket for Confidence’ have received regional and global recognition through the ICC Development Awards.”

Furthermore, Indonesia also qualified for their inaugural ICC event at any level in 2023, with the U19 girls team participating in the U19 T20 World Cup.

There, the girls made history by securing their first ever victory against a Full Member, defeating Zimbabwe by three wickets in a 13th to 16th Place play-off game.

Meanwhile at the senior level, the women’s team has continued to make steady progress and is now ranked 23^rd on the ICC T20I rankings table.

Future Goals

When it comes to future goals, Yadav prefers a pragmatic approach. He says that PCI’s long-term objective is to build a complete cricket ecosystem domestically rather than focusing on short-term goals around a solitary tournament, ranking or result.

“We want to build a system that can keep producing players, competitions and opportunities long after any one generation has finished playing,” he said.

“We want to keep expanding structured cricket across the provinces, strengthen our school to national team pathway, increase the quality and frequency of domestic competitions and provide both our men’s and women’s national teams access to more regular international cricket.

“Our current strategic plan sets ambitious performance objectives, including moving the women’s team toward the world’s top 15 and the men’s team toward the top 30, while continuing to expand participation, infrastructure and commercial sustainability.”

Finishing the Bali International Oval and getting it ready for use is understandably a major priority, but PCI is also focused on developing a national network of quality facilities to avoid dependence on a single venue.

“From 2027, we want Bali to become a regular international meeting point for Associate cricket,” an emphatic Yadav stated.

“We hope to be considered as a host for the future ICC Women’s T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Qualifier at the new stadium. For our own readiness planning, we are working on an eight-country assumption, but of course nothing is confirmed yet.

“We would also be very open to hosting ACC pathway competitions if the ACC appoints Indonesia.

“In parallel, we are exploring an annual women’s Transcontinental Cup concept that could bring teams from different regions to Bali, subject to the appropriate approvals.”

Hosting T20 World Cup and Full Membership?

PCI are also keen on hosting a major ICC event in Indonesia in the future, for either men or women. But Yadav conceded that “there’s a lot of work to be done to get there”.

“We first need multiple venues that meet international requirements, proven event operations, broadcast infrastructure, training facilities, strong spectator and commercial planning, government support and a track record of successfully hosting international competitions,” he said.

“A realistic progression is to host more bilateral cricket, multi-nation tournaments, pathway and qualifying events and then increasingly significant ICC or ACC events.

“We want to prove our capability step by step. In the future, depending on the event model, Indonesia could look at hosting independently or potentially participating in a co-hosting structure.”

Ultimately, the board has serious ambitions of achieving Full Member status.

“Our very long-term vision is connected to Indonesia Emas 2045,” Yadav said.

“We want Indonesian cricket to spend the next 10-20 years building the sporting, governance, financial and infrastructure standards required to be considered seriously for ICC Full Membership.”

Abhiram Singh Yadav, the Persatuan Cricket Indonesia (PCI) chair, is “ready to serve” after being elected as an Associate Member representative to the prestigious ICC Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC).

As first revealed by Cricket Financial Journal on X before officially being confirmed by the ICC, Yadav won a landslide over Sarah Gomersall (Jersey) and Vignaesh Sankaran (Germany).

Yadav fills the vacant Associate Member slot on the CEC, created by the departure of France Cricket’s Gurumurthy Palani and his subsequent appointment to the ICC Board in July.

Yadav will hold the position until June, when fresh elections will be held for a two-year term.

Speaking to Cricket Financial Journal, Yadav expressed his gratitude at his election win and vowed to use his position to serve Associate cricket to the best of his abilities.

“For me, this is not about having a title. It is about being ready to serve. My experience comes from living the Associate journey,” he said.

“In Indonesia we have had to build many parts of the system at the same time - grassroots participation, women’s and youth pathways, national teams, international fixtures, partnerships, infrastructure, commercial development and governance.

“That has given me practical experience of the challenges an emerging cricket country faces, while also teaching me that no Associate has all the answers.”

According to Yadav, the approach in his winning manifesto was simple; to listen, learn, represent and serve.

“I want to learn from other members, discuss issues openly, understand the different realities across regions and use my experience with PCI to discuss both what has worked and what has not,” he said.

“Equally, if another Associate has already solved a challenge that we are facing, we should be willing to learn from them.”

Yadav is particularly keen on driving greater collaboration between Associate members to tackle and solve mutual problems as a whole, rather than boards just looking out for their own interests.

“I strongly believe that the success of another Associate strengthens all of us,” he said.

“When more Associate teams become competitive, we create more meaningful international fixtures, stronger regional and global pathway events, better development opportunities and a stronger commercial, broadcast and fan proposition for the game.

“If we help one another grow, we all gain better opposition, better pathways and more opportunities. Our success is connected to each other’s success.

“That is why my commitments are centered on a stronger Associate voice, more meaningful cricket for men, women and youth, fair opportunity, sharing knowledge and building capability, converting global opportunity into local growth, and representation with accountability.

“I want to represent Members fairly; from one Associate, for every Associate.”

The two other Associate Members on the CEC are Gurdeep Klair of Canada and Anuraag Bhatnagar (Hong Kong), with the committee chaired by ICC chief Sanjog Gupta.

Abhiram Singh Yadav was elected on the influential Chief Executives’ Committee in a landslide to further underline the rise of Indonesian cricket.

The result, which I first announced on X, for the vacant Associate Member seat saw Yadav receive 30 votes - well clear of Sarah Gomersall (Jersey) who received 9 and Germany’s Vignaesh Sankaran (3), while one voter abstained.

Cricket Financial Journal, which revealed the field of candidates on September 11, understands Rashid Shah (Netherlands) was set to contest before pulling out of the race.

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With their women’s team rising up the T20I rankings as infrastructure starts taking shape in the second most populous nation, China is earmarked as a future T20 World Cup host by giddy administrators encouraged by the development.

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Dav Whatmore is one passionate guy. Take, for example, his obsession over his AFL team - Melbourne Demons. He still religiously follows the Dees despite not having lived in Australia since his playing career ended in the late 1980s.

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For such a movie buff - he’s got good taste with Point Break (the original, of course) being a personal favourite - it was a great shame that Ollie Peake did not get to experience playing at the Oakland Coliseum during his recent stint at Major League Cricket.

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“I didn’t cry when I announced it. The tears came when I recorded a video and talked about singing the national anthem, which is one of the best feelings that I have had as a player,” exclaims Roberta Moretti.

Speaking to Cricket Financial Journal, the former Brazilian international women’s captain is referring to her decision to retire from cricket after a 12-year playing career.

“It took me a couple of days to talk to all the coaches, the board, my family and then I finally made the announcement to the team,” she says.

“It was a very sad moment for them, but funny enough, it was a very happy moment for me. I was really proud of my decision.”

While on tour to Rwanda with the national team for the Kwibuka Women’s T20 Tournament last year, Moretti felt that it was the right time to hang up the boots. In June 2025, she had been elected president of Cricket Brasil and the dual responsibilities of playing and administering had begun to take their toll.

“One of our coaches Julia Price, who was a player herself, told me that there’s going to be one day that you just know that you don’t want to do this anymore,” she says.

“Not because of physical or technical limitations, but because the transition to full-time administration work would become necessary.”

After her retirement announcement, she received a combined guard of honour from the Nigerian, Zimbabwean, Rwandan and Malawian cricketers, alongside her own teammates.

It was a highly emotional moment for Moretti, who admits to being touched by this special gesture. “It reminded me why I love this game so much,” she says.

“It’s not only because of the runs and the wickets, but how cricket brings people together and empowers them.”

Life as president

While life post-retirement has been “pretty normal”, her involvement with the game remains deeper than ever due to her administrative responsibilities. Her office in Poços de Caldas, the spiritual home of Brazilian cricket, overlooks the training centre.

“I actually live like five minutes away from the office. So, this is pretty much my house,” she chuckles.

“We have a new office for Cricket Brasil, which is absolutely gorgeous. We have a group of people working in the office every day and honestly it feels like I left one team and joined another team straight away, which is fantastic.”

However, there’s one thing that she misses dearly about post-retirement life. “I just miss hitting some balls in the nets,” she says. “I love to train; it was therapeutic to me. I think that I will still do that from time to time.”

Cricket Hubs

In a country of 213 million people, it is actually quite remarkable how a small town of 170,000 like Poços de Caldas, best known for its thermal baths, became a hotbed for the bat and ball game. It is a fascinating story of chance encounters and happenstance, which is worth telling in its own right.

Moretti confirms that while Poços de Caldas still remains the biggest hub of cricket in Brazil, the federation is keen to replicate its success elsewhere.

“Currently, we have two other main hubs, both in the state of São Paulo,” she says. “One of them is a small town called Aguaí. And surrounding that, we have another 30 schools that are participating in cricket programs.

“Plus, a short distance from Poços de Caldas, another hub in Botelhos is also growing rapidly.”

Elsewhere around the vast nation, there are hubs developing in Rio de Janeiro, capital Brasilia as well as Bahia in the northeast of Brazil. “We say that for a hub to be fully established and sustainable, it takes eight years,” she says.

“At this stage, they are all in different stages of development. But we believe that in four to five years’ time, we will have fully developed hubs with junior and adult competitions and proper grounds.”

Infrastructure

However, as with many other Associate nations, Brazil struggles with having adequate cricket infrastructure which Moretti characterises as the “main challenge”.

“The hardest part for us is to build proper infrastructure from the ground up, but thankfully we have a lot of support from local governments,” she says.

“Sometimes, we even receive financial support, but if not, they are still happy to provide us with facilities for free.”

Cricket’s inclusion in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics has also helped matters significantly. “Since we became part of the Brazilian Olympic committee last year, it has completely changed the profile of cricket in the country,” she says.

“We receive funding from ICC and our partners plus sponsors, but most of this goes towards grassroots development and establishing junior pathways. But with the Olympic committee support now, we can finally budget for high performance.”

This financial support equates to around $800,000 USD annually, which takes care of anything high performance related such as hiring coaches, player contracts, tournaments and training camps.

“When we first went to Rwanda in 2022 for the Kwibuka, that tournament cost us 10% of our entire annual budget,” she says.

“Nowadays, both teams can participate in various tournaments without one penny coming out of development.”

As for pitches, all cricket domestically is played on matting surfaces. “We bought some special mats from the UK last year,” she says. “And they are really good; they spin, the bounce is very realistic. But we need grass pitches to go to the next level of development.”

Currently, grass nets are being built in Poços de Caldas with the support of the Surrey Foundation and the Oval Cricket Relief Trust.

“It’s going to take another 8 to 10 months before the facilities are ready for use. However, we’re still a few years away from having structured competition and tournaments being played on grass pitches,” Moretti explains.

Participation and the men’s team

Last year, Cricket Brasil achieved a significant milestone, breaking the 100,000 barrier in participation numbers for the first time. “That number is pretty much 50-50 male and female participation; people who watched or played cricket on at least three occasions during the year,” Moretti says.

“Also, we now have more than 100 junior teams through the U13, U15, U17 and U19 pathways and around 12,000 kids participating regularly on a weekly basis.”

While the Brazil women’s team are the cricketing trailblazers in the nation, the men’s team is gradually closing the gap with increased investment. Although, Moretti concedes that the path for the men “is much longer.”

“Look, their cricket journey is just starting. We are ranked 89 now, compared to the women’s 29,” she says.

“We centrally contracted 11 of the 14-member men’s squad in August last year, plus the development team receives access to training, physiotherapists, nutritionists and therapists. The same thing that we provide the women; we provide the men now.”

And like the women, the men’s team have shredded the dreaded “expat” tag with almost all the new talent coming through the development hubs in Minas Gerais and São Paulo.

“When I started playing cricket for Brazil in 2014, the men’s team had one Brazilian. In 2019, we had maybe 2-3 Brazilians, but they were mostly reserve players,” Moretti says.

“But for our last tournament in the World Cup qualifiers, we had one Brazilian Pakistani guy that has been in the team since 2014 and everybody else was Brazilian-born and bred.”

In 2025, Cricket Brasil hired experienced South African cricketer Brendon Louw as coach for the men’s national team. “I think Brendon’s experience will help the boys go one step up and compete well in the upcoming South American championship,” she says.

“They won in the 2026 Central American Championships, so we have been looking forward to good results, at least within the region.”

The Rankings Quandary

Despite the positive growth and development stories, organising fixtures remains a challenge for the men’s and women’s teams.

The South American region is easily the least developed cricket region globally and contains the fewest ICC members, compared to its Asian, African or European counterparts. Plus, the rankings system acts as another barrier.

“We are going to tour Switzerland later this year,” Moretti says.

“But what is difficult is often higher ranked opponents are reluctant to play you because they want to protect their ranking. Why risk dropping down the rankings table by losing a game to Brazil?”

Therefore, Moretti wants ICC to step in and organise more tournaments for lower ranked associate nations, to provide fixture equity.

“We want to qualify for the Women’s Challenge Trophy in the next three to four years and crack the top 25 in T20I rankings,” she says.

“We are still a little bit far away from ODI status or playing countries like Scotland, Thailand or Netherlands, but I really like our trajectory.”

Future Goals & T20 World Cups

With regards to future goals, Moretti states that the top priority for her organisation is to build more infrastructure in the hubs.

“This will provide a competitive edge to all our teams, to become better. I think it’s extremely important,” she says.

“Furthermore, it will allow us to further develop our high-performance coaches for both senior and junior teams.”

Secondly, she wants to see sustainability implemented as a key pillar of Cricket Brasil governance.

“I always think that when I was a captain, I wanted to develop a team that could live without Roberta as captain,” she says.

“Then when I became a player, I wanted to make sure that I leave a team behind that can play without Roberta.

“So similarly, a very selfish goal of mine is making sure that when I leave as president of Cricket Brasil, the organisation continues to operate smoothly without me in charge.”

Lastly, Moretti would love nothing more than seeing the Brazil women qualify for their first ICC event, particularly with the T20 World Cup expanding to 16 teams from 2030.

“Look, we have to make the global qualifiers first. In the Americas region, we know how strong the USA team has been,” she says.

“So, it’s not going to be easy, but we’re talking about three more years of additional development and competition and our players travelling abroad to get more exposure and experience.

“I believe there’s still plenty we can improve.”