A robust assessment of the Arnos Vale cricket facility was conducted on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 by members of the International Cricket Council, Cricket West Indies (CWI), and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines local organizing committee, during the second round of venue inspection ahead of the 2024 ICC Men’s 20/20 World Cup scheduled for June.

The inspection of the facility was the second phase of many anticipated, according to K. J. Singh, head of operations within the project team as he gave initial findings at a media briefing held on the Arnos Vale cricket grounds following the inspection.

“We completed one in April (2023), of which we have done a venue inspection- assessment for each host venue, of which St. Vincent (and the Grenadines) was one before we sent out the bids. They were successful in completing that bid and were assigned a spot to host the tournament.”

Singh said the team from the ICC was visiting just on the heels of the India tournament (2023 World Cup), a very successful tournament in India, and they were here to look at the facility, give some insight in terms of what necessary upgrades are required to fulfil the obligations and duties of operationalizing the stadium, to come next year and host an even bigger, better and more successful tournament.

Singh concluded that the 2023 ICC World Cup in India was a spectacle, “But here in the Caribbean, we are second to none in our carnival atmosphere, and we’re going to prove to the world that this is the only place to host cricket when it comes to mega tournaments like this”.

President of Cricket West Indies Dr. Kishore Shallow, told media personnel during the briefing that “So far, [we have had] some really favourable feedback from them, and so I’m quite delighted about that. But from a Cricket West Indies perspective…we all know this is a tremendous opportunity for us here in the entire region. The turnout from the media here this afternoon shows the kind of interest in the World Cup 2024.”

He added “…this is what we have seen throughout the entire region from all our stakeholders, and obviously from the rest of the world as well, but from the governments, they have been leading in terms of responding to the needs and this inspection and the part of this process is to help with that, to contribute to the process of delivering a product rated second to none…”.

Many public and private sector officials, including Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, have spoken of the likely socio-economic spin-offs of playing hosts to the tournament.

Dr. Shallow echoed these sentiments, noting that: “The potential financial impact on the region is something we have reiterated over and over and we can’t echo that loud enough. Over the next few weeks, months, we’ll continue to sensitize the stakeholders how to be ready, how to be prepared for this, because this is not only…on the field, but there are other service providers, some who have already started reaching out about what role they can play and so on… And we’ll continue to sensitize them about how they could actually be part of this exciting opportunity for the entire region”.

The ICC 20/20 Cricket World Cup will be the fifth global cricket extravaganza hosted by the West Indies. ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, ICC T/20 Cricket World Cup 2010, ICC T/20 Women’s Cricket World Cup which was the first stand alone such tournament, the ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2022, and now the ICC T/20 Cricket World Cup 2024.
Despite improvements in the many protocols governing such tournaments, questions are still being asked from the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup.

K.J. Singh, responding to some of these told the media that “It’s a little more than lessons learned. It’s significant in terms of what we have done from 2010 and what we know now. And in terms of lessons learned, I think it’s more of where the game has gone, and future proving ourselves into another- I think, decade, decade-and-a-half when the men’s cycle comes around.”

Singh noted that the stadia were built in 2007 and pointed to the digital and other significant advances that have since been made in world tournaments.

For the 2024 edition, “It’s going to be about 20 people in that social media room, dealing with the digital operations. We’re going to have LED perimeter boards right around…full 360; LED side-screens. It’s a significant overlay and operation expansion from 2007.”

Asked if enough will be done to bring through the gates the numbers needed to really make the Caribbean stand out, Dr. Shallow responded: “ Certainly, and one thing we have emphasized on is the need to have that typical West Indian atmosphere. We’re not going to compromise on that by any means. I think that is something that we did in 2007.

“We definitely have to catch up for next year. And it’s a good thing that the ICC are here right now to indicate what upgrades are necessary, even though we have started some of those upgrades- the stands, the outfield- we’re not there as yet, but the government has given significant commitment to us that…planned and signed off, we are going to get there…”.

The CWI president further explained that there is a comprehensive plan including a marketing campaign to be rolled out and they will be drawing on the skills and expertise of experts from within the region.

The facility in St. Vincent and the Grenadines was the third venue inspection following similar assessment in Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Lucia, which was followed by Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Florida, and Texas.