Cricket West Indies Masters Association ("CWIMA")
Cricket West Indies Masters Association ("CWIMA") Details
Address: 2081 Sunbow Avenue
Apopka,Florida
United States - 32703
Established: 2020
Current Series: BMC O60 Practice Match
About: The Cricket West Indies Masters Association the “CWIMA” is a non-profit organization registered in the State of Florida, USA and is directly affiliated with the Over 50s World Cup Cricket Committee, a private body operating outside of the ICC. To date, they have held two Over 50s World-Cups, one in Sydney, Australia (2018) with 10 teams and most recently in Cape Town, South Africa (2020) with 12 teams. Based upon the success of these two World-Cups, there is now an Over 60s World Cup planned for 2022.
As a result of the increased popularity of veterans’ cricket, the CWIMA was formed with the intent of creating cricket structures throughout the West Indies by ensuring that there are administrators on each island to make veterans cricket broader based across the region. Currently, there is not a cricketing body in the West Indies that promotes and oversees over 45 years cricket although, many of the islands host their own local tournaments. However, there is no structure to select a veteran’s team to genuinely represent the West Indies and this was quite evident when a team was selected to represent the West Indies in the 2020 Over 50s World-Cup. The selection was strictly based upon invitation to show up for trials in Florida and Trinidad which was primarily financed by the players.
Since the formation of the CWIMA, Big Man Cricket Guyana (BMCG) was created to administer veterans’ cricket in Guyana, and they are directly affiliated with the CWIMA. BMCG held their first tournament earlier this year but was suspended mid-way due to COVID-19. The CWIMA would like to work with local administrators and establish Big Man Cricket tournaments in each of the islands which would allow a better selection of veterans to truly represent the West Indies at various tournaments.
The CWIMA is seeking approval to be officially affiliated with the Cricket West Indies (CWI) to successfully keep our players involved after their retirement from local and international duties. As mentioned, there has never been a veterans’ association or body administration for veterans’ cricket in the West Indies, and the formation of the CWIMA has aimed to fulfill this role.  The major objectives of the CWIMA and Veterans cricket are as follows:
  • Oversee the interests of veteran cricketers throughout the West Indies. 
  • Attract and develop a quality pool of retired cricketers throughout the West Indies who are interested in becoming active once again and motivated enough to represent their country and a West Indies team.
  • Carry out annual tournaments throughout the West Indies which can also be used as a fundraising affair. These tournaments will be used to select veteran players to represent the West Indies on the international stage.
  • These tournaments will encourage veteran players to lead healthier lifestyles as they would be competing to play for the West Indies at an Over 50s World Cup and/or Over 60s World Cup, leading to an overall healthier older population within our communities.
  • The players in the CWIMA tournaments will serve as role models for younger generations in their communities and beyond. This will provide further recognition for the sport of cricket and will assist in bringing out more spectators/families to these events.
  • Players from their era in the 80s and 90s plied their trade in a very proud, disciplined and committed environment and, hopefully, these values can be instilled in younger generations.
  • In addition, the CWIMA tournaments can serve to attract more of our youths to return to playing cricket when they witness their seasoned and disciplined players in action.
  • Promote more regional tournaments within the various veterans’ age groups.
  • With this reinvigorated interest in the game, we hope these players can assist in strengthening our clubs around the region by serving in various capacities in their communities such as administrators, coaches, umpires, scorers, match referees, selectors, etc.
  • Additionally, this will assist in modestly improving the overall economy due to increase spending in the region.
Throughout the history of the West Indies cricket, there has been no tournament held in the region for our veterans. This is a unique opportunity for the CWIMA to step in and promote cricket by targeting older players and encouraging youth and family within the community to observe their role models in action once again. By attracting family members, veterans get to relive their earlier days when their loved ones accompanied them to the cricket ground – think about the days when cricket was a family event every weekend with families walking with food and refreshments, making it a true family affair. This will be a priceless experience, and the games will garner a greater audience.
The CWIMA will not be infringing upon any competition that Is currently in place. The aim of this organization is to have a structured tournament in the West Indies for veteran cricketers, with the support of the CWI the CWIMA would have the influence needed to administer veteran’s cricket across the region. Without the support and affiliation of the CWI it will be very challenging to proceed as their leadership and impact would help further our initiative of expanding veterans’ cricket across the region.
The CWIMA is aimed at keeping our retired cricketers adopting a healthier lifestyle and to have these same players serve as role models for the youths in the various islands and their communities across the region. These players can also look forward to the opportunity to represent their country and the West Indies at a World Cup tournament, an honor which not many have had the opportunity to participate in.
We hope that you would share the same vision of our organization which is intended to capitalize on the current structure in place and build a strong foundation whereby our veterans can continue to excel whilst motivating current and future generations of cricketers. We sincerely seek the approval of the CWI and thank you in advance for the consideration of making us an affiliation.