By Rohansonn Waithe

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, (CMC )– Attorney-at-law Calvin Hope will serve as president of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) for the next two years.
In Tuesday night’s landslide victory at Kensington Oval, the outgoing vice-president moved one rung up the ladder to become the association’s 12th president, and its new face since outgoing president Conde Riley took the reins in 2017.

The 68-year-old Hope garnered 158 votes, staving off former Barbados chairman of selectors, Henderson Broomes, who received 68 votes, while former West Indies opening batsman Philo Wallace counted 57 votes, and former BCA vice-president Jeff Broomes just 13.

In other results, attorney-at-law Gregory Nicholls was returned as secretary with 157 votes, beating out Joy-Ann Jones who totalled 125 votes, while Carlos Brathwaite (185 votes), Henderson Wallace (142 votes) and Winston Haynes (119 votes) were elected to the Board of Directors.

Hope’s rise to prominence follows a 28-year journey in cricket administration at the BCA, having first joined the board as a director in 1997.
He previously vied for the presidency on three occasions – narrowly losing out to Conde Riley in 2023, along with unsuccessful campaigns in 2007 and 2011 against former West Indies fast bowler Joel “Big Bird” Garner.

Hope thanked the membership for their support, while noting that he is humbled to lead the association from 2025 to 2027.
“I am elated, but also humbled to be given the opportunity to serve in this capacity. It is indeed an honour. There is a lot to be done, and I do pledge to the members that I will do my best and pull the board together in unity,” Hope said in his first address as president.
“We need to do some resetting, but we have to work on the strategic plan for our cricket. We would review the secretariat, making it more responsive. We want to build unity – that is the main focus in our cricket.

“We will have a board meeting pretty quickly. We have to look at the commercial framework – how do we set up a commercial framework to fund cricket in Barbados in a very substantial way and for years to come,” he added.

Hope said a lack of opportunities for cricketers after the Under-19 level was a major issue for the BCA.
“After the Under-19 stage there is a little gap there in terms of getting to the Barbados team. We want to look at overseas tours, we want to look at outside of the normal fixturing, providing opportunities for the youth to continue playing together more competitive cricket, and most of all a lot of training, coaching and upping the ante for the training and the motivation of these players,” he said.

Pointing out that he would draw on the expertise from cricket legends such as The Most Honourable Desmond Haynes and Garner, Hope maintained that past players still had a contribution to make.

Not to be forgotten, Hope also touched on women’s cricket.
“Women’s cricket is very high on the agenda as usual. We also need to get a formal setup in the school system for the female side of our cricket. That is a priority,” he said.

As the new BCA president, Hope will automatically serve on the Cricket West Indies (CWI) board of directors under current CWI president Kishore Shallow.
However, he chose not to comment on CWI’s  recent high-level emergency two-day summit held on August 10-11 in Trinidad and Tobago.
“To be honest with you I didn’t follow that, I was busy campaigning for this event. I can’t really comment on it,” Hope said.

Hope follows 11 former BCA presidents – Lt. Colonel William Bowring (1932-1943), Sir E Allan Collymore (1944-1958), T Noel Pierce (1959-1964), Eric Douglas C F Inniss (1965-1972), Captain Peter D Short (1973-1993), Cameron W Smith (1993-1996), KHL Tony Marshall (1996-1998) and (2005-2007), Sir Conrad Hunte (1999), Stephen M C Alleyne (2000-2004), Joel Garner (2007-2017), Conde Riley (2017-2025).