Kingston, 2 September 2025 – The Government of Jamaica, through the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and the Ministry of Tourism, is advanced in finalising arrangements to reintroduce a Jamaica franchise to the Caribbean Premier League in August 2026 through a public-private partnership.

The development comes as the Government continues its push to establish Jamaica as a premier destination to watch, participate in and discuss sports.

In this regard, Kingston is recognised as a strategic pillar for diversifying Jamaica's tourism offerings, aiming to create integrated visitor experiences that encompass business, heritage, food, cultural attractions, sports, and entertainment.

The Minister of Tourism, the Honourable Edmund Bartlett, and the Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, are working to conclude the discussions and ensure the necessary arrangements are put in place for a new Jamaican CPL franchise next summer.

Minister Bartlett said, "Sports tourism is a critical component in the experiential offerings of tourism for destination Jamaica. Minister of Culture, the Honourable Babsy Grange, and myself have been collaborating with the CPL team, and particularly the franchise holder in Jamaica, to ensure that along with the cricket board we’re able to advance quality cricket offerings at destination Jamaica. We are committed to working with the teams and we look forward to the outcomes that will enure to the constant building of sports tourism as a driver for visitor arrivals and revenue in Jamaica.”

Minister Grange said, “The discussions have been ongoing for a while now and they are going very well. We have resolved many of the challenges and I’m very confident that we will welcome a new CPL franchise to Jamaica in the new season.”

CPL Chief Executive Officer Peter Russell said, “The Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League are very excited at the prospect of a return to Jamaica. We are delighted that there has been significant investment in Sabina Park and have had fruitful and engaging discussions with the Government and other stakeholders about securing a seventh CPL team which will be domiciled in Jamaica for the 2026 season. We have seen the impact that CPL has made on promoting host nations as premier tourism destinations. We look forward to working with our partners to achieve similar success in Jamaica. We are hopeful that these negotiations will reach a positive conclusion in the coming months.”

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Kingston, 10 July 2025 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has said that “it’s all systems go” for Jamaica to host its first-ever day-night Test match at Sabina Park.

This evening (Thursday), Minister Grange said “all infrastructure is in place” ahead of the historic Test between West Indies and Australia which starts on Saturday afternoon.

Minister Grange said: “The [Jamaica Cricket Association] president has advised that Cricket West Indies indicated that the lighting expert has verified that the newly installed lights have met the required standard. [They’ve] been calibrated and refocused and everything is now in place.”

The Minister also said that the new display boards will also be ready for the match.

“The large panel is up and everything is in place. The smaller panel within the next 24 hours will be ready as the software is now being installed.”

Minister Grange is encouraging Jamaicans to come rally ‘round the West Indies and be part of history.

“I would say it’s all systems go. And I want to encourage the public to come out and support cricket, lovely cricket.”

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Kingston, 12 April 2021 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has congratulated Ricky Skerritt, Cricket West Indies President, his Vice President, Dr Kishore Shallow, and the rest of the CWI administration on being re-elected unopposed.

Minister Grange said, “I wish the President, the Vice President and the other members of administration all the very best as they seek to keep their promise to ‘work untiringly to help achieve sustainable improvement, both on and off the field, for West Indies cricket.’”

The Skerritt Administration was re-elected at the 22nd Annual General Meeting of CWI, held on Sunday, April 11, 2021.

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Kingston, 22 March 2021 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has provided national women’s cricketer, Rashada Williams, with assistance to continue her university education.

Williams, who is reading for a first degree in Physical Education, has been given Five Hundred Thousand Dollars (J$500,000) to assist with tuition expenses.

Presenting a cheque to the young cricketer, Minister Grange said:
“In this particular case, I’m extremely proud because I happen to be the Member of Parliament. Rashada lives in my constituency. She’s a product of Spanish Town.

Through the Sports Development Foundation, she’s getting assistance to continue her education. And I really want to thank the Sports Development Foundation for the support that they’re giving her [and I want] to encourage her to continue to strive to be the best.”

Rashada Williams said the assistance would “fill a major gap” as she moves to complete her undergraduate studies.

The young cricketer dreams of becoming “a cemented player in the West Indies team” and a source of “empowerment to the future generation”.

Minister Grange described Williams as a inspirational cricketer who “did not get a chance to play in school [as she was not allowed to play on the boys’ team]; there was not a female league that she could participate in, but in spite of that, she continued to work and she continues to do well”.

Minister Grange said “I really want to encourage her. Whatever support that can be given to her through the Sports Development Foundation I will advocate for her; and I know that she will make Jamaica proud.”

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Kingston, 9 August 2019 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, says that Jamaica and Kenya have agreed to cooperate in the fields of sports, culture and heritage.

Minister Grange says the agreement was finalised during the recent State Visit of the President of Kenya, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta.

Minister Grange signed the Memorandum of Understanding formalising the cooperation agreement with the Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and Heritage, Ambassador Amina Mohamed.

Under the MOU, Jamaica and Kenya have agreed to cooperate in the organising of major sporting events in track and field, water sports, football, cycling, cricket, netball, boxing, tennis, golf, martial arts, basketball, rugby and any other discipline that both countries may mutually decide upon.

Minister Grange said:
“Jamaica is the sprint capital of the world and Kenya has a great reputation of producing some of the finest long-distance runners that we have ever known. I believe there is much that we can share not only in track and field, but in other sporting disciplines as well. And so we look forward to exchanges of coaches, administrators and physical education teachers; welcoming Kenyan athletes for training here in Jamaica among other initiatives which will benefit both of our countries.”

Jamaica and Kenya have also agreed to collaborate on sports science, the promotion of sports for people with special needs, and the implementation of anti-doping policies, procedures and practices within the World Anti-Doping Agency system.

Regarding culture and heritage, the areas of cooperation will include collaboration between the National Archives of both countries with a focus on digitisation and modernisation of the entities; cultural exchange in the cultural and creative industries; cooperation between the national museums in the field of heritage research, protection, conservation and management as well as exchange of experts.

Minister Grange said: We would wish to see visits of cultural and creative practitioners including musicians, dancers, actors, theatre groups and visual artists. And so we encourage the participation of our cultural and creative practitioners in festivals in both countries with a view to enhancing the strong cultural links between Jamaica and Kenya.

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Kingston, 17 April 2019 - The Honourable Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport has told newly-elected President of Cricket West Indies, Mr Ricky Skerritt, that she has two major concerns that she wishes the regional body to address as priority.

Miss Grange spoke with Mr Skerritt who called on her at her New Kingston offices today.

“First, I wish that CWI pay more attention to developing cricket at the national level “as you strive for the further of the development of West Indies cricket.

“Cricket West Indies should invest more in cricket in the various countries from which the West Indies team is drawn,”

the Sport Minister said,

“and the focus must be more so on cricket at the grass root levels right down to infant and prep schools.”

The Minister said there was also the pressing need for the Region to give more attention to women’s cricket. “There are no real leagues for women’s cricket in the Caribbean. There is the Senior and Junior Cups for male players in Jamaica; where is the Senior and Junior Cups for our females?” the Minister asked.

She said that it was to their great credit that the West Indies women had done so well in world cricket without “adequate supporting structures.”

The Minister also called for more women in the leadership of cricket. 

She assured Mr Skerritt that the Ministry was looking forward to continued collaboration with the new administrations of Cricket West Indies and the Jamaica Cricket Association.  

Mr Skerritt said that CWI was taking the Minister’s concerns on board and in fact had plans to invest more in grass root cricket with emphasis on “kiddies cricket”. 

The new CWI President said also that improvements affecting women’s cricket were coming, noting that the process had already begun with increasing the salaries of West Indies women team to the level of those paid to the men.

Mr Skerritt also informed the Minister that the major objective for his visit to Jamaica was to raise funds. He said, “low inflows of cash in the last financial year because of the sparsity of international cricket in the Caribbean, has affected us.”

Mr Skerritt said that so far his visit had been “reaping fruits.”   

The CWI President was accompanied to his meeting with Minister Grange by Mr Wilfred “Billy” Heaven, President of Jamaica Cricket Association; Mr Johnny Grave, CEO of Cricket West Indies; Mr Jimmy Adams, Director of Cricket; and Mr Barry Thomas, Finance Director of Cricket West Indies.  

The Honourable Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, will be the main speaker at the Ground Breaking and Sign Unveiling ceremony for the Stafanie Taylor Oval at Eltham High School in St. Catherine on Wednesday November 1, 2017.

Sport Minister, the Honourable Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, has extended congratulations to both the male and female West Indies cricket teams for winning their semi-final matches and advancing to the respective finals of the ICC Twenty20 2016 Cricket World Cup in Mumbai, India.