The region’s stars are now likely to return to international cricket after Cricket West Indies (CWI) yesterday announced a temporary player amnesty, the first step towards scrapping the contentious eligibility rule.
CWI’s chief executive, Johnny Grave, said that a working group of the Cricket Committee was expected to present recommendations on the rule to the Board of Directors shortly, which would be discussed at a meeting in September.
In the interim, Grave said, all “registered players” would be eligible for selection.
The move by CWI comes with West Indies almost certainly set to miss out on automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup in England.
West Indies have one more chance to achieve direct qualification when they face England in a five-match series in September but Graves said CWI were already preparing for the prospect of playing in next year’s qualification tournament in order to reach the World Cup.
Also on Monday, CWI said it would soon launch a registration process for all players – men’s and women’s in all age groups – in an effort to “identify the full slate and categories of players we have in the West Indies.”
