Now aged 44, Barbados-born Steven R Leslie has
been active in Sports Administration at the Tertiary
(UWI) and National levels for the 25-plus years that
have passed since the 1997 commencement of his
involvement in the field. Like many other boys of his age, Leslie
played multiple sports while at secondary school in Barbados. As a
student of St Michael (1989-1994) and Lodge Schools (1994-
1997), he was always very actively involved, representing both
institutions in cricket, football and volleyball.
Leslie’s interest in the game of cricket began at the age of 11 while
attending the St. Michael School. His involvement evolved under
the watchful guidance of Mr Noel Gittens, a Senior teacher and
former Empire Club cricketer. As a cricketer, Leslie was good
enough to have represented the Combined Schools, as well as the
Empire, Spartan and Wanderers Clubs at Barbados Division Level
(now called Elite) during an extended, active playing career which
lasted well over fifteen years.
Leslie’s involvement in Sports Administration
began formally in 1997 within the Office Of
Student Services/Sports (later developed to
the Academy of Sports) at the UWI’s Cave Hill
Campus, Barbados. He was at that time also
enrolled at the Campus as a student-athlete.
Leslie represented the Cave Hill Campus in
cricket at three UWI Inter-Campus Games
held in Trinidad (1999), Jamaica (2001) and
Barbados (2003) respectively. From 1999 to
2007, he also served as a key member of the
planning and organizing committee for that
important biennial UWI event.
The UWI Inter-Campus Games is a multi-disciplined sporting
event that features the best student-athletes
from the University’s Cave Hill (Barbados),
Mona (Jamaica) and St Augustine (Trinidad)
Campuses Mona (Jamaica) competing against
each other.
During his 1997-2015 period of involvement as
a UWI student-athlete and sports administrator,
Steven Leslie also served as Manager and
Assistant Manager of the Combined Campuses
and Colleges (CCC) Regional First-Class cricket
team.
Leslie’s day-to-day responsibilities and reputation
at the UWI as a cricket administrator was
expanded in late 2006, when he was appointed
as Assistant Director of Sports at UWI.
This coincided with the formal naming and
redevelopment of the 3Ws Oval cricket ground
at the UWI’s Cave Hill Campus just prior to the
Caribbean’s hosting of the ICC 2007 Cricket
World Cup (CWC).
Having completed his formal studies in 2015,
Steven Leslie is now the holder of an MSc in
Cricket Studies. He also holds a BSc in Computer Science
and Accounting, both from the UWI Cave Hill Campus.
In 2015, Leslie switched his employment over to the
Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) where he was
appointed as the country’s first-ever Director of Cricket.
He served in that position for 5 years (2015-2020),
enjoying many successes in the role.
The Barbados National Youth Male teams at the Under
15, Under 17 and Under 19 levels boasted back-to-back
titles (3 consecutive for the Under 15s, 2 for the Under
17s). All told these groups were crowned champions in 8
different CWI tournaments held during this period. Such
junior-level cricket success and consistency had eluded
Barbados since the Dave Cumberbatch led 1984 and
1985 teams won their Under 19 titles. A similar level of
consistency was also achieved by the Barbados National
Women’s Senior team.
In November 2020, Leslie took up a new role at the BCA
when he was appointed as the Association’s Marketing and
Communications Manager. This expanded department
allows the BCA to effectively focus and highlight many
aspects of the lovely game of cricket in Barbados. It also seeks
to attract partners to help in the development of cricket
on the island. The exploits of the BCA as the island’s
governing entity, which has organized its cricket for over
130 years is featured in many innovative and diverse ways.
The department has introduced several initiatives since
2020. These include the BCA Club/School of the Month,
Women In Cricket and Who’s Who Series. Through those
series all members of the cricket community. players,
club administrators, donors and many others are able to
highlight what they have achieved and continue to pursue
in various aspects of the game.
Over the next 5 years Steven Leslie’s intended involvement,
as a highly valued BCA employee, will be geared towards
ensuring that Barbados’ cricket brand is packaged and
effectively showcased to international cricket and
sporting community in the most highly positive manner. A
most admirable objective, but one which given his already
well-established and outstanding track record of success
should be easily achieved.