The eight-team tournament will be staged at three venues in and around the Jamaica capital of Kingston – Kensington Park, Chedwin Park and Sabina Park – from Wednesday, August 8 to Saturday, August 18.
Josina Luke, the WICB’s project officer for women’s cricket, said the regional governing body was delighted to be staging the tournament at this time.
“The West Indies Women’s team will be going off to England for five T20 matches in early September and this will be followed by the ICC Women’s World T20 in Sri Lanka,” she said.
“So this tournament is timely and will provide our players with valuable match practice. It should help to sharpen their skills and help them better understand the ebbs and flows of this format.”
She added: “It was for this reason that the directors of the WICB had agreed with the policy shift about the staging of regional women’s tournaments to coincide with the format for the women’s World tournament taking place in that year.
“We urge the fans of the game to attend the regional matches, see our talented women’s players, and see how competitive they have become in recent times.”
Luke said another reason for the attractiveness of the tournament was the success of the West Indies Women’s team over the last year.
“The West Indies Women’s team has done extremely well in this format of the game,” she said.
“They reached the semi-finals of ICC WWT20 when the previous tournament was staged here in the Caribbean, and were last rated at No.4 in the Women’s T20 World Rankings.”
She continued: “A number of the recent West Indies Women’s players have been chosen by their national sides to play in this tournament, so this will also provide some of the intrigue.
“Jamaica is also hosting a major women’s cricket event for the first time and many of the players are looking forward to this new experience.”
Luke said the WICB was pleased with the results from the West Indies Women’s team in recent times and remained committed to strengthening the women’s programme.
“With the rise of T20 cricket, our players must also begin to play this format competitively on the regional level, so when selected for international matches they can be equally competitive with the best teams in the World,” she said.
“Women’s cricket too, is on the rise, and hopefully, this regional tournament can be the start by which we can attract more women to play the game and retain those already playing.”
Luke said the WICB had also planned a one-day player development training session during the regional tournament.
“We want to emphasize various topics of personal development to the players, including the anti-doping rules, so we will also take this opportunity to bring this information to them,” she said.
The Regional Women’s Twenty20 Tournament will comprise seven rounds of preliminary matches leading into a full slate of playoffs for positions from Champions to eighth place.
The participating teams are: Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and hosts Jamaica, the reigning Regional Women’s Super50 champions.