Jamaica’s Sports Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange says she’s hoping that by next month more concrete plans will be in place for the development of grass roots cricket.

Following the Government’s decision in 2023 to not bid to host the 2024 ICC Twenty20 World Cup due to the heavy costs associated with the tournament, Grange said $100 million would go towards youth cricket and cricket in schools.

Speaking at the Melbourne 5K launch recently, Grange says almost half of the investment will be paid out this year with Jamaica’s women’s team, who won the Super50 tournament in 2024, among the beneficiaries.

“This year, $40 million will roll out because it’s over a three-year period. We are hoping that before the end of the month we can disburse some of those funds to women’s cricket, to the team that did well last year,” she said.

While admitting more details need to be sorted out, Grange says they will be meeting with several stakeholders, including the Jamaica Cricket Association [JCA], to see how best the investment can be used.

“We will sit and discuss with the JCA and other cricket interests how we spend the remainder of the $40 million, but I want to focus a lot on the development side,” she said.

“We’re going to be looking at primary schools, basic schools, and see how we can put programmes in place. I’m also in discussion with a well-known cricketer to engage his services so that he can also be a part of driving that development. There are a couple of established cricketers who we employ that are being paid through the Institute of Sports (Insports), even though they engage in other activities. I would say within the month of March we will have a more detailed plan,” Grange added.

JCA President Dr Donovan Bennett told the Jamaica Observer in January that training coaches would be critical in developing young talent across the country.

“What we intend to do in the current year is to train a lot of level one coaches in the primary and high schools because we have this islandwide Under-13 programme going, we have primary school competitions going and, for the most part, these schools are devoid of coaches. So what we intend to do is train as many coaches as we can so that these schools will be in a position where they at least have someone who can coach the basic things of the game,” he said.

The investment in 2025 from the Government in cricket would push pass the $110-million mark after the pledge of $75 million to upgrade the lights at Sabina Park ahead of the West Indies’ home series against Australia in July.

Jamaica Cricket Association President Dr Donovan Bennett (Photo: CWI Media)