Following confirmation that Jamaica will host Sri Lanka’s tour of the West Indies next summer, Jamaica Cricket Association President Dr Donovan Bennett says he’s aiming to make the island a permanent hub for international cricket.

Though there has been no official confirmation from Cricket West Indies (CWI), Bennett confirmed with the
Jamaica Observer that the Windies will host the Sri Lankans in three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and as many Twenty20 (T20) matches next June.

It will mark the second summer in a row where international games will be played in Kingston following Australia’s tour in July. It will also be the fourth series in two years after the South African and Bangladesh tours in 2024.

Bennett says the strong demand for cricket among local fans has been a major factor in the CWI’s decision.

“We needed to have a good crowd for the Australia series and that certainly strengthened my hand,” he said.

“It’s something we have promised and so far, so good. We intend to continue to fulfil to our obligations and give the Jamaican public as much international cricket as possible. We have an extended schedule, it’s the first time a team will be playing six [consecutive] games in Jamaica.”

Much of the Australian team’s July visit was overshadowed by months of concern over the installation of new lights and a scoreboard at Sabina Park.

However, Bennett is expecting a much smoother process ahead of the upcoming series in June.

“For the first time it is not a fly by night thing — we have negotiated and we now have nine months to put everything in place so all the marketing that needs to be done, all the various inputs that need to be put in place, we have all the time in the world to do it and to do it properly,” he said.

“We have peripheral things like that we would still need to do but you know the major issues are off the table. Sabina Park looked a different place for the Australia series and there were a lot of complimentary comments both from players and from spectators about the condition of the stadium and the improvements that took place there. So we intend to continue to improve but it would be a lot less taxing than what we went through for the Australia series for sure.”

Despite not having sold-out crowds during the one Test and three T20 Internationals of the Windies and Australia series, there were large turnouts which Bennett is hoping to see again next year.

“The turnout for the Australia series in Jamaica was very helpful and we are looking forward to an even greater crowd for the Sri Lanka series because that certainly will strengthen our hand going forward when it comes to negotiating games for Jamaica, so we will do our part; we’re just hoping that the crowd again will come out and do their part because without them we don’t have much of a ground to stand on,” he said.

“I have already called up the head of my marketing department and he plans to start almost right away. As we speak, we’re in discussion with the chairman of the Jamaica Tourist Board [because] they have an interest. Even though it looks like a long time, there are a lot of things that need to be done that we could not have done for the Australia tour so we’re not going to sit down and wait until the last moment to start planning and to start marketing and to start getting sponsors et cetera — we’re starting from now.”

It will mark Sabina Park’s first ODI series since 2022 and only the second in nine years. Sri Lanka has never played a T20 series in Kingston and their most recent ODIs were in 2013 during a tri-nation series involving West Indies and India.

A section of the crowd in the North Stand at Sabina Park during the first T20 International between West Indies and Australia on July 20, 2025.

BENNETT…we intend to continue to fulfil to our obligations and give the Jamaican public as much international cricket as possible (Photo: Garfield Robinson)