Worrying, Sexual Harassment Allegations in W.I Women’ Cricket

Even as the female West Indies cricket team embarks on efforts to qualify for the 2025 World Cup to be held in India in September, the region’s cricket administrators have been forced to deal with worrying off-field issues.

These relate to serious allegations of sexual harassment of young players during the 2020 World Cup.

So serious were the allegations taken that a joint meeting between the governing body of West Indies cricket (CWI) and the official representatives of West Indies cricketers, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), was convened to discuss the matter. A joint statement emanating from that meeting was issued on March 21. In it, both bodies stated that they have taken the allegations “seriously and remain committed to ensuring a safe, professional and supportive environment for all players and staff”. The CWI and WIPA also pledged to meet “to review all aspects of athlete safeguarding within West Indies cricket”.

However such is the gravity of the allegations that despite the commitment expressed by both sides there are still reservations among the families of young female cricketers in the region. In fact, on Monday of this week when the West Indies were playing Pakistan in a warm-up match, the parents of a young female cricketer in Trinidad speaking to the Trinidad Newsday newspaper, described the sexual harassment allegations as being “scary”. They say that so worried are they, that they continuously talk to their daughter to encourage her to speak up about anything. Further fuelling their fears are statements made by a former West Indies manager of the female team, Evril “Betty” Lewis, about an incident during the said 2020

World Cup in Australia. Newsday quotes her as saying that “the situation was so serious that she had to bring the young player into her room in an effort to get her to feel safer”.

“I had a situation where one of the players was so traumatised that I had to bring her into the manager’s room to see if I could get her settled … and try to get herself settled into that mindset for the tournament”, the manager disclosed.

The situation, while a new one, at least publicly for West Indies cricket, is by no means new in international sport.

It has contributed to international concerns both about sexual harassment of young players by senior teammates, and has also led to demands for players to have their own single-room accommodation.In fact it has been revealed that, according to the Newsday report, it was only two years ago that CWI provided such single-room accommodation for senior West Indies women cricketers.

There are also issues in wider sport concerning gender identities and integrating persons considered “borderline” into sporting contact, especially with young females. It is important, given the levels of misinformation and intransigence on the issue, that the CWI seek to engage professional assistance in handling such sensitive matters for, if not properly handled, it might well lead to reluctance on the part of parents, and indeed young players themselves, to proceed further into situations with which they do not feel safe or comfortable.

International sport is today not just about on-field engagement, but a host of complex social issues are involved which can have repercussions both on the sport itself and on the wider society.